Pharmacists, Narcs, and why you think we’re assholes

Some people think that pharmacists are assholes. Funny how these are the same people who want their 30 day supply of Vicodin filled after 10 days. I’ll just give you all at home an insight as to why we are the way we are. If you’re a pharmacist at home (or play one on TV) comment and help me out. 🙂
— What makes us angry —

We’re lied to almost all day. My medication got lost/stolen/flushed/eaten/left on vacation/etc. The list goes on and on and on. So when you come and want an early refill for your pain medication and give us that excuse; unless you can prove otherwise (first time its happened, you get 30 other maintenance meds at our place, we /know/ you), we’re going to think you are full of shit. Thats just the way it goes. You think we get smoke blown up our asses every day of work and aren’t jaded because of it?

We are people to. We like to be talked to, to asked how we are doing. All day I get screamed at because the doctor didn’t okay pain pills or soma. You reap what you sow, and if you throw shit in my face then i’m going to throw it right back.

If you /only/ pick up vicodin/soma/valium at my store (like 5 years going back of nothing but vicodin/soma/etc. You all at home know those kind of profiles), we’re going to give you looks when you come in. We’re also going to have assumptions when this is the 4th month in a row you need them early because of some bizarre excuse. We understand shit happens, but if you’re telling us the truth, then I dont want you in the store because a meteor is going to land on you. Oh, did I mention that we also know you pick up your hypertension meds at another pharmacy?

If you are going to sell your fucking vicodin, dont leave it in the fucking bottle you picked it up in for the police to see. We dont like seeing policemen walk in holding our vial saying “Did this person pick this up here? Heres a subpoena, have a nice day.”

If you have the balls to pick up your soma, turn around and hand 2 pills to each of your friends IN THE STORE, we’re going to boot you. Plain and simple. Diversion is always assumed but extremely hard to prove except if you are a fucking idiot.

When I have to tell you 10 fucking times that your pain pills are EARLY because you are too stupid to divide 90 by 3 to find out WHEN they are due. Then argue with me about it!
Notice a trend here? All deal with narcotics. Think about that. Now:
— What makes us Happy —

When you bring in that Rx for Vicodin, and you tell US right off the bat “please put this on file, i’ll pick it up when its due on the xth”.

When you are a true chronic pain patient who comes in on the day that he/she is due (or maybe a few days late) with a new Rx, waits patiently, and never ever asks for anything early. If there is a snag with your insurance/work comp; you are very polite and helpful to get it resolved.

When you treat us like human beings who care for you and not a licensed dope dealer who you can swear at when things go your way.

When you get your pain pills changed, and you bring back THE OLD ONES for destruction and to pick up the new strength.
So really, it boils down to honesty and taking medication how its prescribed.

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Lies: I caught a patient red-faced lying to us once. We had “Stadol Lady” come in every week or so to get her Stadol fix. She was always two weeks early and she always had a different excuse. She would always go to the clinic downstairs first and bug the doctors until they wrote her a new script just to get her the hell out of thier office. She came in one day, just like clockwork.
I ask the tech, “What’s the excuse this time?”
The tech says, “She says her daughter stole it”
I decided to call the clinic, since I figured she went there first. “What excuse did she give to why she needed another early fill?” The clinic – “She said that she was moving, and she packed it acidentally with her clothes.”
I denied to fill the prescription due to her conflicting story. I was working in a military pharmacy at the time. She knew some admiral somewhere, so she complained and my spineless pharmacist-in-charge had it filled by someone else. Oh well, at least I did the right thing, no matter what the final outcome.

All I can say is get a life! you wouldn’t know what the right thing is if it kicked you in your face. All I hear is how you want to be talk to like you’re a human! ok then stop acting like in ass and do your job, when I go to pick up my mothers medication I’m there to pick it up not reassure you that you’re special and a wannabe cop and if the doctor wrote a prescription what makes you qualified to override his authority oh! your online school where you got your diploma to be a pharmacist says the eight years he went to school makes him a idiot because he could have gotten it online in two months! yes there is alot of people addicted to pain medication but only they can make the choice to get help, all you are doing is making sure they move from prescription medicine to heroin. So if you want a sticker for making the world a better, go help cancer patients or rescue puppys but for acting like in ass and thinking you’re so much better then everyone else! :)Here is a FINGER have a nice day

Try actually reading the post before commenting on it. They don’t want to be told theyre special and amazing, etc. Simply to be treated like human beings. When there are dumbasses like you not having the patience that a common 2 year old would have constantly hanging around the pharmacy, it makes a pharmacist (and the techs) jobs more difficult. Now go back to school and learn some grammar before posting more bullshit you clearly know nothing about. Go TAP!!

Well I truly always establish an excellent relationship with my pharmacist, and yes I’ve had issues of my meds being miscounted but I don’t yell or scream I shrub it off as shit happens, I have Lupus and I’m on lots of meds and I call them in 7 days in advance to assure I don’t run out. My issue is these stores continue with budget cuts which makes it hard to keep that relationship. They may not be Doctors but they deserve the same respect you would give your provider, unless you literally catch them in the wrong we can’t assume. I’ve been lucky by getting great great pharmacist and I always appreciate the input. I know not everyone are that way the world is full of liars, drug addicts and flat out cruel people so I feel if a pharmacist can get on here and talk to us like we are crazy then it’s possible something is wrong with them cause I can honestly say my pharmacist would never do such a disrespectful thing. We come on here to vent cause we can, we are the customers and rather you feel we are right or not it’s not your problem, be professional and learn how to take criticism, Not knowing how to take peoples criticism could be the reason why people are rude, you need to be patient with your customers. Wow to come on here saying some old lady kept coming in ok maybe she had hard time remembering or maybe cause she’s older people in her own home was ripping her meds off, I don’t know but it’s up to you to be patient and listen. By the way this comment was for the angry pharmacist.

Thanks Joyce that is true, each time I get comfortable with my pharmacist they move him or her to a new store it’s annoying. Then we end up with some crude person with no compassion for anyone but themselves just sad.

I live with chronic pain, it would be a dream come true to not have to take pain medicine. My pharmacy is closed on weekends, when my medicine is due I wait till Monday, which puts me two days past. I’m polite, follow my doctor’s instructions. The angry pharmacist happened to me today, I did everything you said we should be doing, so why? I deserve to be judged and mistreated! You just confirmed how he made me feel and what he thought of me, shame on you!

I hate the name adam, they always got something stupid to say…….I bet Sgt.White could kick your ass and thats whats making you feel small, so you attack his grammar….Eres un pendejo! No one gives a shit about grammar! Stick to the subject Ass! Because I could get your I.P address and ask you in person to give me grammar lessons…..USMC

Listen, dumbass……. 1st of all pharmacist go to school 6 years at a minimum. Stop proving how stupid you really are. Second, idiots like you are why the job is annoying. They go to all those years of schooling to make decisions you can’t even comprehend and fools like you are shooting their mouths between welfare checks. So here’s a finger back shithead….

Joe I have never heard a health professional express themselves with such uncontrollable anger. I don’t believe you are a pharmacist. Are you a tech? Doctors collaborate with pharmacists all the time. They are highly valued in hospitals and out patient clinics. Compounding pharmacists are super smart, and they are not at every Walgreens you see.

Hello Joe. What pharmacy city and state do you work in? I don’t think that you will answer that. Its fine. My main concern is how you assume every patient is like that. I understand that it has to be at least 60% of people become extremely addicted to opiate medications. Other people get addicted to other types of medications and they do not get treated the same way as the ojpiate patients. Since the so-called opiate epidemic is blasted all over the news That’s why all the pharmacist have a hard-on over it. So ive been having pain management for 2 years and my primary doctor was prescribing Norco10mg 90 units a month. Than 90 Percocet a month along getting 60 15 morph ER. I dropped the morphine immediately cuz I was tired of fall asleep right away. But the whole point is is not all People are assholes they’re just trying to get the medication. And it’s because they have to deal with assholes who kind of sound like you honestly who don’t want to give it to him because you think you have more power over A PhD master’s degree doctor. A little history on me I’ve rode Motocross for over a decade. I broke in my back twice broken my collarbone twice Almost every rib twice 2 wedge compression fractures deform spinal canal Osteoarthritis Severe spinal stenosis two bulging discs that I believe they said were Almost 4-5 cm over the The limit for needing surgery. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg buddy When I get tired of his pharmacisto. treating every patient that takes pain medication all the same instead of a case-by-case basis. I am in dire need of it every month just so I can get out of bed My left leg goes paralyzed for 6 months at a time unless I have epidural injections almost every single month But when I go to the pharmacy to get my medication is that the young man especially I get treated like a biggest piece of s*** in the world. Is the glass for everybody next time a pharmacist tells you know he doesn’t have to prescribe to you his medication even though you’re not really you’re a couple days after your fill date In all your size correct make sure yo have the pharmacist write on their the exact reason why he cannot prescribe it to you. And that he believes that him telling you NO is more important than your heathwell-being and the doctors Orders and the orders a doctor gave to the pharmacist to complete. If He refuses to write that and not give you your prescription you have a full legal right to shoot malpractice take his license and get a whole bunch of money. I know a lot of Pharmacists and they know a lot of pharmacist that told b******* just like that because it’s all a power trip. Especially the real young pharmacist who try to act like they’re pharmacist but they’re just assistants. I’m out right me more and I will keep up with plus it helps my best friend is a pharmaceutic LAWYEE WHO LOVE ASSHOLE PHARMACISTS LIKE THAT AND AHOWIMG HOW EASY IT IS TO PULL THEYRE OH SO AMAZING 6 Year “PHARMICIST” DEGREE. RRULY MOST ARENT QUALIFIED ENOUGH TO BE HEAD OR COMPOUND PHARMACISTS. JUST WANNA BE PRICKS..

As an MD I would disagree with assertion. I should have the ability to write anything I like to be filled whenever I want. I’m only asking for pharmacists to make sure they aren’t taking a conflicting med

Your an idiot and obviously addicted to some form of pills. For one a pharmacist goes through 6 yrs of college and internship to become one dumbass. Not 2 months of online schooling. The requirements to become a Pharmacist rates up there with having a phd, which is why they are ‘allowed’ to make a determination as to whether or not they believe you are abusing a substance, and not dispense it to you. I suggest for one that you do a tad of research before you go on a tantrum, which in truth is most likely because you haven’t had your fix in a couple days. I live in Florida which is the pill mill capital of the US. Go to ANY substance abuse rehab and ask them what the #1 reason people are now in rehab for Einstein! Ask them what is the fuel behind the majority of drug abuse related suicides! And while your there check yourself in and try to get your life on track. I am sorry but your little rant reminds me of the bullshit i have heard so many times from immature teens who have made the mistake of allowing themselves to get addicted to something, then look for someone to blame because they can’t get it on the daily. Fyi i am NOT a pharmacists, but i am someone who beat an addiction to Opioids and Ambien. So do EVERYONE a favor and just sit in the corner and jones for a bit till your plug gives you a ring, then once again fill your body with what will eventually kill you. Good luck and God Bless…..

Wow..for someone who beat an addiction you sure think you’re better than everyone else. You think that you’re part of “elite” that hasn’t had an addiction to some sort of dopamine rewarding treat. First of all…you first..should be sympathetic to individuals who are addicted BECAUSE it not only makes their life impossible but everyone else’s too…although the addicted doesn’t see it that way. The way you put down other addicts is reminiscent of the behavior of the addict my friend became. The high and mighty addict who thinks he knows everything cuz his mind is clear for 30 days. You should be ashamed of yourself. If you’re not going to help other addicts…help them get their lives back on track and in turn stop ruining other people’s lives i.e. the pharmacists’..then please don’t say anything. All your doing is spreading hate and Lord knows theirs to much of that around already.

You are a disgusting and pitiful person. Do you not get that a lot of these people are only dependant on their meds because a doctor prescribed it in the beginning, and kept them on. I hope you one day feel full blown withdrawal from whatever pill you were prescribed that you didn’t know had down sides. I hope you get prescribed cymbalta then get cut off so everyone can see you act like a bitch and destroy youre social life. I hope you go to the ER ,and get pumped with fentanyl and versed for weeks till you’re body is so dependant you sieze out. See you’re scum of the earth, mister no empathy, and that much is obvious, because while your are praising yourself and your knowledge of pharmacokinetics, someone’s blood could be on your hands. You could refuse to fill Suboxone and that “addict” that’s been sober for over a year just put a bullet through his head to stop the agonizing withdrawals. Imagine your mind and body being in the most agonizing pain imaginable for 2 weeks, all while being told you’re just an addict you just have to not use. It’s silly it’s like me telling you to never have a sexual thought again, cause if you do you will be shunned from society. You should run as far away from the medical field as possible. I do agree that pharmaqcist should look out for drug seeking on a case by case basis, but in the end you aren’t the doctor. You sir are a piece of shit that a hobo threw up on.

I’m sorry, I just wanted to say one more time that your opinion is worthless, if you lived it like you said, you’d be so much more understanding. You don’t have the first clue about how addiction works. I got dependent on codeine at 12, I didn’t know it was a drug I just knew I had insomnia. Shit stole my teenage years from me. I was homeschooled and innocent then,. I take responsibility for my recovery, but addiction attacks people as if it were conscious, but then again what in the hell could you possibly understand. You too joe

Damn right! If the doctor gives a new prescription it is a new prescription period. I don’t lie Im rarely rude the doctors authority overides yours stfu stop whining like a 5 year put the pills in the bottle fuckstick. Period. If someone comes in with an attitude or and i don’t believe you that it happened gives out pills in the pharmacy they are your only points otherwise count the beans bitch

That’s a great response. It’s amazing how many people need their egos stroked to just do their jobs, most of them think they’re wanna be cops. Hahaha. Thanks for the laugh, I got into a half an hour debate over a penicillin script for a toothache. What a douche. My man wanted to beat the shit out of him.

Sgt.White, thank you. Thank you for recognizing and calling out the elitist complex Jess & Adam appear to be suffering from. If the pharmacist has a written prescription, how hard is it to fill? You don’t have to call ANYONE. Oh, because you know she’s making up yet another excuse because she’s addicted to Stadol, YOU’RE going to make YOUR life more complicated by cross checking her story, and wasting everyone else’s time in the process. See how that works Adam? Jess made his own job more “difficult” by trying to get involved in someone else’s problem/addiction, knowing full on the lady went through her meds too fast again (as he’s already admitted this is something this women does regularly). Here’s a word of advice: If you’re not interested in seeing the result of big pharma and greedy, prescription-happy doctors, than don’t become a pharmacist. You’d have to be pretty naive to expect that (in the pharmaceutical industry, or anywhere really) the only type of customers you’ll get are the happy, polite, reasonable, and “responsible” ones, ESPECIALLY when a hefty amount of your products are highly addictive, life altering DRUGS. These are very sick and/or addicted, (sometimes terminally ill) patients, who are relying on a prescription to ease their pain and discomfort in the world. Most people still trust that their doctor’s have their best interests at heart and blindly follow whatever they order. My suggestion to anyone seething with as much hate and disdain as some of the people I’ve witnesses here today is this: If you lack a core element of compassion and empathy for those of us in life who are struggling to get by, who need to take a pill 12 times a day just to make it through, then being a pharmacist or a technician probably isn’t for you. Back when I was battling my addiction to Subutex (which by the way, long term use was highly praised and encouraged, tapering was always something they discouraged- as if I wasn’t ready) I had my run in with the same type of judgmental people, who choose to look down on those in life who haven’t taken the “right” path, or aren’t living the pure, sober life. One day I went in to pick up my prescription, and it wasn’t ready, which happened a lot because Kaiser’s automated system doesn’t always send the message over to the pharmacy, so they told me to call them directly to have the order placed, which I did this time. Well this time, the technician dropped the ball. Being the REASONABLE person that I am, I explained the situation, in which case I was quickly met with fingers pointed, nasty looks and bad vibes. They couldn’t believe that I wanted the narcotics I was heavily addicted to, ready the day they were suppose to be ready! They thought I should just be able to drive all the way back home (30 minute drive) and then go to work all day, until someone *hopefully* decided what they were going to do (someone presumably not taking Subutex every day, not addicted to drugs). In which case I started to panic, knowing it would be a very difficult day at work. The lady walked to the back where she began to gossip with her other holier-than-thou minions, voices carrying over (very rude), at which point I started to get upset. I felt like, these people have no idea who I am, what my life is like, how much I hate that I even need this shit to begin with. I confronted the pharmacy tech, at which point I said something like, “I don’t enjoy any of this. I don’t enjoy being addicted to drugs, I hate it. I wish I could wake up in the morning and go about my day without thinking about taking a pill, but this is where I am in life. I hope one day I will be free from all of it.” And then for the first time, she looked at me like I was a person, not just a pill-eating robot. She sent me compassion, and she felt my pain with me for a moment. That invisible barrier of misunderstanding, the “us” vs. “them” mentality that had once stood in between us was no longer. Are there those customers who are completely out of control and hateful? Sure.. Every job has those unruly types. I just feel like being in the pharmaceutical field requires a little more empathy, and benefit of the doubt mentality. Instead of trying to figure out if you can catch someone in their blatant lies- even though their request has been approved by a doctor- approach them with compassion. Most of the people I know who are or have been addicted to any drug aren’t happy about it. But if you treat them with with respect, with the knowledge that they aren’t operating at optimum levels, you may just get through your day a little faster, and it might end with you going home a little happier, with a greater sense of purpose. It might not result in people being any less emotionally charged about getting their drugs, but at least you will be operating from a healthier place of understanding.

A good pharmacist would know that people that take opiates for long period of time (dependent) are not going to be able to go a few days without their meds to make their pharmacist happy about them coming in a few days late. Also “bring your old pills in for destruction when the doctor changes the strength” LOL what that means to me is that you either want to resell them or use them for yourself. Bet you’d find it annoying if people brought in their changed antibiotic to thyroid meds for you to destroy!

The pendulum has once again swung in a different direction. People are being cut off left and right. give out narcs freely, and then a new study comes out, or we see the effects of opiate addiction,overdoses, and patients start getting cut off.If you are a patient get a thicker skin. if your legit, just tell him to call your doctor. If you are a pharmacist you are not qualified to assess somebodies pain, mental health, or truthfulness. I have never heard of a pharmacist doing these things. If you have a legit concern call the doc, but if a pharmacy worker keeps calling a physicians OFFICE with unfounded complaints. The doctor will make a report of it. . Patients need to be an advocate for them selves. Find out the laws in your state. Who do you report abuse to. You have a lot more power than you think. This doesn’t mean action will be taken against a health care worker on you word alone, but if a pattern appears your complaint will be taken seriously. I am wondering what states some of you are from. I am from MN. We have patients sign drug contracts. Patients agree to follow a standard of behavior in the clinic, pharmacy, or anywhere you are presenting a prescription with his name. The contract is reviewed and signed annually. It saves the staff and patients a lot of frustration. Be warned; their are no warnings. You break a rule, and you are done. No discussion, no excuses. I have had only one patient get fired,a and it was because he was ranting at the pharmacist for refusing to fill his script one day early. Doctors do not want patients running around town with narcotic pain meds under their name if you can not control your self. They have a reputation to uphold, and they do not want to be associated with the doctor who has the creepiest patients. Honestly, anyone who can’t control themselves needs to be evaluated by mental health.I hope you find the care you need. Good luck!

I lack empathy for people who won’t make ‘any’ real effort to beat something that ‘they’ made the choice to ingest. Understanding and peace comes from within not without, so go pet a tree and stop thinking the world should be there petting it with you. Once again i have beat several addictions ‘and’ i worked for 4 yrs in a AHU. For the uninitiated that is an Addiction Health Unit in a hospital. And i can tell you right now that those poor people that got lucky enough to go there NEEDED waaaaaaay more tough love, and way less pats on the back!! Addiction blows, and almost always a person becomes addicted to a substance to fill a void, or mask a pain, or to just try to cope with what is truly just life in general. Yes, you need to be compassionate when dealing with them, but NO, telling a highly trained Pharmacist to just go ahead and give it to them is FUCKING RETARDED!! What is needed is better control of highly addictive pharmaceuticals, and MORE people willing to stand up and do the right thing by not just letting them have it. If the substances weren’t so readily available you would have much less opiate addiction etc etc. And a very large part of this in my opinion is on Big Pharm. Why? I truly believe that there is substances out there that could alleviate pain just as well as opiates, but beings they ‘aren’t’ addictive, Big Pharm will not introduce them to the general public. Think on it, and yes it’s another conspiracy theory. Addiction fuels sales like you really just can’t imagine folks. Sit down with Big Tobacco and they will explain to you how it works……

So Jess, the patient came in with a RX from her doctor and you decided to stick your nose where it didn’t belong. YOU should lose your license for that! You came between the doctor and their patient! The job for pharmacists is to fill prescriptions according to the instructions of the doctors writing the RX. You are not a DEA agent or any type of law enforcement official. Sheesh!

Do you notify physicIan? I understand drug seeking behavior, and patients with addiction can be challenging. Yes, they often waste valuable medical resources, but you are not trained to assess these patients. You don’t have access to their full medical record. They may have a disease. Addiction is a disease. If you get an rx and its been altered refuse it and call physician immediately. He will tell you to fill it, mail the rx to his office, or refuse to fill and simply throw it away. I have had maybe 2 doctors who wanted a patient arrested, and this was because they had been given a warning. If you suspect forgery speak with the physician. Every scenerio I have read here is an MD who makes the call. The only time I would be ok with a pharmacist diverting from this plan is if the patient became unruly, threatening, or disturbing the store normal business. Then a cop may be needed to assist to make sure nobody gets hurt. After the crisis call he physician. Thank god the medical record is here, and doctoras can easily check a registry to see what has been filled in recent months. Now you won’t feel tthis moral obligation to police it. I do like most pharmacists you guys are wicked smart.

I completely understand that getting narcotics filled 10 days early is absurd. Completely agree with it but I routinely get fucked with getting Lyrica filled 2 days early for CRPS in my foot. I can’t drive I have to rely on other people to be able to go and pick up my prescriptions yet my Pharmacist makes me wait until I’m 2 days away from running out of a nerve pain , non-narcotic medication which is the only one I use because I refuse to use opiates, which doctors are willing to give me because CRPS is extremely painful. Yet I have a pharmacist who routinely lies about the amounts they have in stock and other BS. My pharmacist runs out of insulin for fuck sakes. How does a pharmacy run out of insulin for an insulin-dependent patient that they’ve had on file for 10 years??

For the pharmacist that are all here bitching and complaining about their customers you should take a good look in the mirror at your colleagues and realize that just as many of them fuck up peoples lives, as you see fuck ups come into your pharmacies. So stop whining and just do your fucking job. If somebody is abusing it then you don’t have to fill it but there’s no need to give people getting blood pressure medication or blood thinners or a medication like Lyrica a hard time getting it filled 2 days early for Christ’s sake.

Alot of you Pharmacists act and behave like you are doctors and you are mental health professionals and you’re not. I’ve worked in stores I’ve known pharmacist personally I’ve spoken to them I know about the things they deal with and I know the bullshit they pull on customers that just piss them off. For no other reason not that they’re abusing their medications but just because they don’t like them they fuck with them. So don’t come on here all high and mighty like you guys are just Angels trying to do your very best cuz you’re full of fucking shit. And with the attitude of the original poster you can certainly tell he’s one of them

This isn’t angry. Lol. ( it said ” leave an angry reply”.
My pharmacy got a new pharmacist and he refused to fill my pain medication on day 30. ( it was very upsetting due to the fact that it ment another 20.00 taxi the next day). It WAS day 30, but he said he couldn’t count the day I filled it- he had to count the next day as day 1.
I ask him to please see if my insurance would put it thru that day- as it WAS day 30. He said he was sure they would, but, he would NOT. I don’t know if I rubbed him the wrong way, he morally objects filling pain meds, or he was just extremely gung ho.
I had to change pharmacies- he was rude every month..even when I waited until I was out a full day before I came in.
What law is he trying to quote that states he has to wait until day 31?

Not forgetting the classics-
“It said 30 on the prescription, but when I got outside and counted them there were only 29/28/15/choose as necessary, in the container”
“Can I double-check the methadone mixture quantity when you measure it so I know that you aren’t ripping me off?”
“I am going on holiday for THREE weeks and need three repeats of my weekly prescription” Same guy, same story the next month.

Or how about this? “Sir the prescription is for 2 tablets 3 times per day.” Patient X answers “But my doctor said if I needed to I could take more, so I did…” Have to love the people who dont think it through then think mentioning the D word (doctor) will make it all okay.

God help us all if you are a pharmacist. You people seem to have intellect lower than the people you criticize. Sure there are some scum liars out there trying to fool the system, but a pharmacist should act like a professional. In this blog, it seems we have a lot of immature people (pharmacists?) showing their true colors. And that person said the “D” word? Well try to fathom this. That person is known as a doctor. Yes, someone with more knowledge than a pharmacist. If he said it was OK, to the patient, that’s what the patient is going to think. Instead it’s better to try to understand what misunderstanding the patient may have….

If this was truly a pharmacist who wrote that nasty, distasteful letter and use the F….world like eating jelly beans, then I have to say they are moron’s. I have chronic pain and will be on Lortabs for the rest of my life and I do not use them to get high or hand out. But I am damn sick of you people that call yourselves pharmacists and then look down your noses at those of us who take medication. I am also sick of you trying to act like your God and know everything there is to know about any of us. Tell you what, get a job at McDonalds and when someone come through and eats too many hamburgers and they are big a fat, then by all means judge them… You are and asshole and should never have been given a license to work with medications or the public. And if you are not really very careful, someone like me, will sue your ass for the filthy language and slanderous comments not to mention a few other things. I have the money, so F…you!!!! Hell there is a majority of pharmacists who use more dope in their store than the patients themselves. Sounded like you were pissed off because you were “HIGH” better watch it, you might just find yourself under full investigation or because of your filthy mouth. You are a joke to the medical profession…paranoid psychosis needs full mental evaluation. You are an idiot!!

LMFAO!! You hit the nail wright on the head, its funny because I was thinking the same thing as you! It also must be that he or she here must be afraid that these customers of theirs are taking away form them, lol… Most of them are dope feens,hypes etc JonesERS…. Its say cause for most of us, its not a choice of the matter, most of us were placed on medication not by choice!!! I hope one day you can forgive yourself for treating innocent people the way you do AND HAVE….

You say all of this, but you don’t seem to be making any particular point. It is far easier (and more common) for customers to fool the system than pharmacists or techs. Throughout retail, especially, controlled substances are counted DOWN TO THE VERY LAST PILL. ANY discrepancy on the part of the pharmacy is almost immediately and harshly scrutinized by the FDA. As to treating ‘innocent’ people the way they have: have innocent people been treated wrongly by some pharmacies? Absolutely. Same as in any other business. Riddle me this batman: If, at your job, you are constantly yelled at and accused wrongly of things that you have no control over, are you going to be 100% nice to EVERY SINGLE CUSTOMER? No. And if you say otherwise you are nothing but a liar. 99% of pharmacies treat 99.9% of their customers with the utmost respect and care, regardless of how those customers treat them back. So get off your high horse, go back to school, learn some proper grammar, and I hope one day you can forgive yourself for the barely coherent and speculation riddled idiocy that was your post. Good day to you

Thats a cute statistic you just made up in your head. I must have dealt with the 0.01% of pharmacies who DON’T treat their customers with the “utmost respect and care.” I think there’s a problem when, as a technician/pharmacist, you are “constantly being yelled at and accused of things that you have no control over.” Could it be that all those dreadful transactions carry over to new transactions, that otherwise would have went along just fine, had it not been for your tainted perspective of society and a decidedly bad mood? I get that this is a place for those of you in the pharmaceutical industry to vent, but the hate is prominent! It’s just permeating the entire website. Maybe you despise your work so much because instead of trying to culminate a healthier outlook, you come here to further perpetuate your seemingly endless oppression. It seems to me that you’re assuming other people (you haven’t a clue about their profession) don’t get treated poorly by customers. I worked at a call center for Comcast, in the repairs department no less (the place people call when their services don’t work), and to top it off, I was expected to try and sell them something more, even though they’re calling about an issue with our service, and more often than not, were very pissed. It weighed me down an incredible amount. I assure you I went home and cried more than once. But then I realized I had one of three options: Either I stay and remain miserable, quit and find a new job, or change my approach to how I handled my interactions with each customer. I can tell you that when I stopped taking every call so seriously and so personally, only then did I become an expert in dealing with angry people, all day. One key for me was being able to separate myself from the company/problem very early on in the interaction, by building rapport and coming from a place of empathy and compassion, even if the reason their cable “wasn’t working,” was because their TV was turned off. I think that can be applied to your job as well, granted you are dealing with people who can be highly dependent on whatever drug it is they’re needing. It’s certainly something worth trying, especially if this is a place you go to every day. You don’t need to constantly have your guard up if you make the decision not to allow every upset, angry person to effect you (that’s a very taxing approach and definitely not a sustainable one). Instead of me feeling like every person who called in was going to be an asshole (which a lot of the time, that’s how they started out), I decided to pretend that each call was a new, potentially happy customer who just needed help with some basic troubleshooting. Armed with the benefit of the doubt, empathy & compassion, and the ability to let bad vibes float through as I continued to sharpen and enhance my anger-dissolving brain powers, life seemed to be flowing with me, not against me. That’s very much the mind state you have to have with addicts, I should know, I was one. They don’t mean half of the hateful things they may or may not say (just like anyone else who’s emotionally charged doesn’t always mean what they say in the heat of the moment either). I won’t deny that you have a tough job, but I think you are capable of making it a more harmonious place to be, even if it’s in your own mind. If you can’t do that, get out of there fast. There’s no point in wasting your life being some place that makes you miserable and bitter. At first, I made it a mental game at Comcast. In my mind, I was shinning the customer on, mocking them if you will, but only I knew that. Eventually, I noticed I wasn’t pretending anymore, these people actually liked me! And after I switched up my methods, the perceived “bad, angry customers,” dropped significantly. Best of luck to you, Adam.

Bravo, well said Adam! Tired of Pharmacists treating pain patients with disdain. I had one refuse to fill my script when I was 32 because he thought my doctor was over perscribing me. Well the doctor called him ripped into him, he said she had 2 surgeries in 10 months for Endometriosis and he had never seen a worse case and did not know how I was walking around daily with all my organs stuck together (adhesions & scar tissue) and endo implants everywhere in abdominal cavity, I had a 3 surgery to castrate me (Hysterectomy) a month later…ask us before you assume we are just drug addicts you fool! don’t Judge people!

i so agree!!! i take lortabs for my back and knee. my prescription is for 4 a day as needed for pain. i only take 2 to 2 1/2 a day, just had filled on the 10th, 120 of them. i was at work and went to take one and realized half of them were gone. i dont have insurance so i pay 72.00 a mth for them, i am a nurses aide so lifting people causes me alot of pain. im sure if i got to get them refilled theyll tell me i cant cause i still have 3wks to wait. i pay for them MYSELF so i fill i should be able to get them anytime i want!!!! i usually have atleast 25 left when its time to be filled again. so im not an addict!!!!!!

Hi! to Hope 4 the future. I’m 62 years old. I have had back pain for over 10 yrs now. The last year the pain went to the neck. Sometimes I will cry, it hurts so bad. I go to the Chiropractor almost every week or two. I stretch and a few other mild exercise’s. I wear a Tens unit a lot, and ice my back, with my legs propped on a pillow like leg wedge. I went to my DOCTOR yesterday on the 17th. I received my written prescription. The pharmacist at Walgreens said another pharmacist put down no refills until my original due date on the 22nd. Three things, I’m going out of State for 10 days. Did he realize that some months have 31 days in it? Also once and a while I need to take an extra 1/2 pain pill to help. I’ve been to a pain specialist, he did radiofrequency on my back, and it did not work. I’m now considering back surgery, but had my first epidural in my lower back. It has helped a little, but still pain. There’s more to say, but I have to get back to taking care of our 6 yr old, that we have Guardianship over. Oh, by the way, I’m always polite at my pharmacy, and a smile. I realize a lot of people abuse prescriptions, but I really hurt, and I’m getting tired. Thanks for listening! It also bothers me that a pharmacist who does not have my medical history should override my DOCTOR.

Also what’s worse is I’ve received the wrong count in my bottle sometimes. Received the WRONG MEDICATION. Received the bottle with typos and it had the wrong dates, quantity, wrong doctor and more. And you dare have the nerve to put what you just did? Are you serious?

You’re such a typical Pharma looser. As an MD who just practically screamed at a pharmacist I now get it. You totally enjoy this… Listen youre only there to make sure you aren’t filling too early (4 plus days is reasonable) and aren’t filling conflicting meds. THAT’S IT! You love to join into the meritocracy that is our society and plant your foot…NO ONE VIEWS YOU AS SUCCESFUL. NO ONE REVERES YOU…JUST FILL THE SCRIPTS

Yes!!!!
Just had one yesterday.
Suboxone….The excuse…the doctor up’d the dosage…NOT!!!!–I was shorted some pills…NOT!!!!
So I called the Dr. for approval of early refill and a reason why early…The “nurse” told me because they took more than they were supposed to!!! You know if the patient just told me the TRUTH at the start, no big deal-I would have just called the Doctor at the start…Just cut out the bullshit!!!
So angrypharmacist, what is your view of Suboxone???
I know you have an opinion on this drug…
Enjoy!!!
Gravelpit

if I had a nickel for every time I was told “I’m Going on Vacation”…. I’d be making a pharmacists salary.
Now, In my little technician mind.. i would think that if you were “going away on vacation” and I refilled your Lortab 1 week early… then your next refill would be around 1 week late, because you would have the extra pills on hand.
but, alas… the next refill request comes less than 1 month after the “vacation refill”… that magical period where “too soon” becomes that “few days in advance, for pharmacist courtesy”

That may be dishonest, but the rules are too strict. Either decide someone is a drug pusher selling to kiddies on the street, or move on and let people live their lives. There may be some hidden, personal excuse which you could never guess. Haven’t you ever had a complex situation, but instead of relaying the entire, true story, you tried to relay what got the point across quickest? If they are really drug addicts, then yes, fine, you have a point. But I find most pharmacists that act like you do, are overly nosey, overly suspicious and they almost NEVER get it right when they attempt to guess what the deal is.

Let me just first say I love reading this. I’m a freshman in prepharmacy courses in college and I’ve worked in a pharmacy for two years. It’s interesting to know that pretty much all pharmacies are the same.

I’m a pharmacist, and I play one on TV!…well maybe not ‘national TV’…
Anyway, I concur with Angry on this one. We’re looked at as the drug nazi’s or drug policeman by everyone. And’s that really because we are! We have to be, that’s what the law says, our licenses are on the line if we decide to just go ahead and ignore the law for you. Your situation is definitely NOT worth my losing my livelihood and license over! Period! Granted, I haven’t worked in retail in years, but the story NEVER changes!

Odd how you concur with the OP when you are a pharmacist and he/she is one too and you are both protecting YOUR livelyhood. Nice. brilliant. No bias there certainly…. At least you admit to your position, however inaccurate your typically bumbling guesswork may turn out to be.. By the way. The law doesn’t say to be an annoying, paranoid, douchebag pharmacist. The law would come in to play if someone were truly breaking it. Not that you have this, uh, hunch etc. For us honest, good paying customers who happen to have illnesses, the story NEVER changes with you bad pharmacists either..

You make it SO clear that you are one of the drug seekers these pharmacists speak of. I’m not a pharmacist, nor have I ever worked in or around a pharmacy. Hell, I’m an Accountant, so I have no connection to the medical field at all. Still, I stumbled across this blog because I was researching to better understand my cousin, who is a drug addict. I believe everything these pharmacists write is true! They have to deal with people daily who are in a REALLY bad place in their lives due to drugs. I assume that when these kinds of interactions happen, the addicts are probably going through an uncomfortable withdrawal and they see the pharmacists as the only roadblock to getting their fix. I have seen my cousin go through withdrawal, and when drug addicts are in that desperate, drug-seeking state, they are mean and impossible to be around, even to the people they “love”. I hope you seek help for your issues and are able to once again experience a nice life free from the shackles of addiction! I do feel compassion for the struggle, but it’s simply unacceptable when addicts like you refuse to even acknowledge that they have a problem. “It’s always everyone else’s fault” will not put you on the path to recovery.

Well posted as well said!!! I agree 100% can not judge a book by its COVER and no one will ever know unless they have experience this them self and I one should not speak on another that has struggles or judge again one for something I am very sure of,did not choose this life!. I wish anyone here the very best on the way they think and feel about Innocent people as well as sick. Pray for them rather than talk about them.

Hello, drug addict here. I have been prescribed opiates for 4 years with good reason. There is no way to NOT be an addict after even a short period of time being prescribed them. They don’t include rehab as part of post surgery care….
It is not the job of the pharmacist to do anything other than fill prescriptions that are legal. And if you had to experience opiate withdrawal, you would know that it’s not safe to allow someone to just stop taking opiates without medical care and tapering off.
Here’s the other thing… They prescribe these pills for pain. The body builds a dependence while building a tolerance, meaning, the same dose that used to take care of pain, now only takes care of what the body needs just to survive. People often have to take extras to get the actual pain relief they need.
If you want to judge somebody, just the system. Don’t judge the millions of people who are now miserably addicted BECAUSE of the system.
I stress EVERY day that I might lose my pill case that I have to carry everywhere I go. I stress every time I wake up in the middle of the night from withdrawal nightmares because I can’t go the whole night without a pill. I stress that I can’t take an extra pill when I’m in tears from the pain because I’ll be judged as a junkie if I ask for more pills a fucking day early. Hell, I had to schedule my wedding and honeymoon around my refill date so I wouldn’t have to be judged a junkie for asking for an early refill to cover my entire trip out of the country, because the pharmacists are assholes that “have heard that one before”. I was terrified that my bag would be lost! I’m terrified every day that something will happen to my pills and I’ll subject my wife and child to my sickness, indifference, apathy, depression, or death from stroke from withdrawal.
Fuck you.
All I did was have inept doctors that allowed a condition to go untreated against my begging for a year. That lead to internal bleeding and emergency surgery (after flatlining in an ambulance, after being found passed out on the bathroom floor by my 4 year old from bleeding 5 pints out my colon). That lead to 47 days in the hospital with a full dose of dilaudid EVERY HOUR for 40 of those days. That led to 8, 8 mg dilaudids per day plus methadone.
Am I an addict? YOUR’RE GODDaMN RIGHT I AM!!!
Do you wanna spot be 40 grand for a decent rehab facilty? No?
Than quit being a dick.
Just shut up and fill the goddamn prescription that I need more than food or water to survive.
You want to be treated as though you’re special, pharmacists? Any monkey with his thumb up his ass can count out pills. Cocoa could sign 300 words. How would you treat someone that was making it difficult for you to get the one thing that keeps you from putting a bullet in your head?
F you! Anyone that doesn’t resort to heroin deserves a medal. It would be easier to get than dealing with the prescriptions.

Oh, and you can fill ANY other prescription a week early, and nobody says a word…
I just did it so that the 8 other prescriptions I have to keep track of aren’t all filled on different days. Would you want to live at the pharmacy? No?
How about having to wait until you’re completely out of heart medication, missing your first two doses of the day and getting horribly ill before the pharmacist will let you have it? Does that make sense?

Opiates are horrible. But they’re medication.
Who are you to deny someone’s medication?
Am I an addict? yes. There isn’t a dose high enough that would get me high, though. When I ask for my prescription early, it’s because I need it. “Just wait a couple days” isn’t an option. I’ll be too sick or dead of a stroke or suicide by then to pick it up.
Pharmacists are flunkies.
Get a clue.

I love how you put this. this is my story as well excluding some parts of course. You really aren’t an addict, when I took psychology in college they call us dependent and tolerant, but you should not have to admit to something you are not. you are truly in need and you are not getting high. Addicts look for a high, we just want the pain and withdrawal feelings to go away. Thanks for this it was evident you put thought into your writing unlike these people that are too far up our ass to see past their opinions. Thank you

This a very interesting blog. I was forwarded to me by one of my students. Please keep in mind the difference between additions and dependence. There are many dependent people who are being unfairly labeled, punished and injured because they are being treated as drug addicts. There are countless legitimate medical issues for which opiate medications are the only available, an often still lacking, option. I see many incoming war veterans suffering from PTSD, Head Injury, Sphenopalatine Ganglioneuralgia, Trigeminal Neuralgia (FKA, “Suicide Disease”), etc., who too, will have a tendency to suffer from increased tolerance problems, taking medication at a faster pace than desired, and lying about lost pills, vacation needs, etc.
My experience, which is vast and well published, has been that no matter whether or it an addict, dependent, diversion agent “vector”, or other, they all end up having to use the same anecdotal excuses when they run into the same anecdotal problems. The fact is, there is no way to tell which patient is an addict or dependent, both of whom need the medication equally but with differences in the propriety in the drugs being used to help them. Addicts won’t likely benefit from opiates, especially alone, and dependents are generally using them properly (e.g., cancer, trigeminal neuralgia “suicide disease”).

As with everything else in life and people, it takes much more to know and understand people and especially know the truth about something they are embarrassed to talk about, they hide or for which society has unfairly ridiculed for which they are ashamed to confess being a member of. Maybe, just maybe, this is an issue that needs to be addressed socially, compassionately and honestly. Many of my most productive, decent people require opiate medication. Several require amounts that many pharmacists would immediately assume my (the medical school/Pain Center’s)patients were part of this sinister deceptive pool of horrible drug seekers. However, and staying within HIPPA rules, several of these legitimate dependents on opiate medications are well know (not celebrity)highly functioning socially active and important. One of these “dependents” played a key role in keeping our country’s economy alive and without doubt millions of people employed. This “opiate dependent” individual, 12/2013 statistics have shown, was individually responsible for creating an economic model that has probably resulted in thousands of pharmacist from losing their pensions, as well as, saved billions of dollars of insurance benefits that have and will continue to pay many pharmacist salaries.
Now I am going to likely get attacked by extremist and irrational individuals already too scared by their past experiences to clarify what they see; however, my humble opinions are:
1) Unless you have fully examined the patient, know the patients complete history and you have made a diagnosis for a condition that you are legally and intellectually qualified to make, then DON’T ASSUME ANYTHING NEGATIVE OR DETRIMENTAL TO THE PATIENT!! No matter how many horrible lying frauds come in prior. It is not fair to them and the only guarantee will be that the unethical, immoral and evil person is the pharmacist.
2) If they are coming in early, or showing a pattern of losing pills, etc. THEN CALL THE TREATING PHYSICIAN!!! The person who knows the patient best. The pharmacist could be the greatest savior the patient could have. Often times this occurs when the patient’s tolerance is changing and they are too afraid to say anything because they fear the false stigma (which this website is rooted in) that they are seeking more addictive drugs. Therefore, they just try to make too little fit too long. This call can help us (The patient, M.D. and Pharmacist) find a solid solution that prevents diversion temptations, doctor shopping and illegal acts that are all from a benign fear that it is dangerous to talk to your doctor about changes in opiate medications, etc).
3) STOP LOOKING AT PATIENTS ON OPIATES AS EVIL OR SUSPECT. If opiates and Schedule II are evil, then pharmacists and prescribing M.D./D.O.’s are to carry most of the blame because we are participating. (drugs with dependency risks are not evil or bad. The evil is in ignorance, disregard for the truth and society’s false opinion and stigma). Eliminate the prejudice and stigma, and you eliminate the vast majority of the deception. Why would a patient be honest with me or a pharmacist who immediately makes it clear that we think horrible things about them and that judgment is being passed saying that they are lesser, immoral and weak? Of course they aren’t going to be honest and admit they are having problems? Who wouldn’t? The problems are really created when they stop going to the doctor or pharmacist (who are trying to help them get better) and start depending on outside sources who want them to get worse and more profitable.)

There is so much more to so, but maybe this is enough to chew on. All the best to everyone.

Students who referred this site to me: My grammatical mistakes and lack of proofreading does not excuse any of you from using proper grammar on exam essays.

Timothy Ferris, MD, MPH,
Associate Professor of Medicine,
Harvard Medical School
Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Ferris-Thank you for your post! Your compassionate and understanding view actually brought tears to my eyes. I, too, suffer from debilitating pain. I, too, have endured the nasty looks and bad attitudes from pharmacists, who for some reason, seem to think they are god. Pharmacists who, when I would go to pick up my monthly prescription (along with other drugs for high blood pressure and ulcers) would treat me as less than human. I have always been pleasant and friendly with pharmacists; unfortunately, most times I was not treated in kind. It is true that patients will not be honest with doctor or pharmacist when they fear being judged. Thank you for your post-I sincerely hope that it enlightens those in the pharmacy profession, because there are many that need it.

I actually take more issue with the people on here who are receiving addictive meds for substantiated reasons. The pharmacists and Doctors, Rn’s, etc ‘have’ to be leery of stories of lost meds due to the fact that opiate addiction is rampant in the US, and it is actually their sworn duty to do no harm. So as caring healthcare providers they ‘may’ overstep the boundary at times in the hopes of actually helping someone realize that they have an issue. Does anyone here have a foolproof solution as to determine who is an abusive addict and who is someone who truly is in real pain and is just doing what is needed to alleviate it so they can try to live a somewhat normal existence? Or has this turned into a witch hunt because once upon a time your pharmacist questioned your prescription? You are not a Universe upon yourself ladies and gentlemen! That healthcare provider has to sort through tens of thousands of people who come to him/her seeking help. Whether it be justified or not. And by the way a pharmacist, RN, Doctor or whomever else is legally qualified to dispense medication can and WILL lose their license to do so, if it can be proven that they provided meds when obviously it was being sought under false pretenses. Check it. EVERYONE deals with pain of some level or another, you have no clue what i deal with, and i have no clue what you deal with. So stop being so damn judgmental because it took an extra couple hours for your pharmacy to process your Xanax….

So I agree. The danger of withdrawal far outweighs the early refill. If it’s the same doctor and the same patient and you have an issue with the date on the RX just call the doctor. A patient shouldn’t have to demand you call the doctor as you turn the screen towards them and tell them it doesn’t matter what date is on the script. It is dangerous to cold turkey stop medicine. Life threatening kind of dangerous!

We had one woman complain that we shorted her every single time, so finally when she’d come for her narcs, we’d take her to the counselling room, count them RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER, and make her sign the Rx so she couldn’t try that excuse anymore.

Are you serious?I know for a FACT that shorting customers is a way for the addicted pharmacist to get high.Also my pharmacist put the WRONG dose on my little boys seizure medication and when I came back they had the nerve to treat me like I was out for money.I was treated llike garbage and I did nothing wrong.I have worked with the public for years and the first thing I learned was never to pre judge anyone,which turned out to be the best advise I ever got and applied.

I am very pleased with the action this pharmacy took to prevent any more blame being on them from the patient. However, I have NEVER complained or had an issue regarding my script until yesterday. I got my routine med filled (controlled substance) and I get the SAME med, SAME dose, SAME date every singe time, but when I got home and counted them (being as I cannot count an entire pill bottle in my front seat of the car) I was 10 pills short. I called the pharmacy and informed them of this and spoke with the Pharmacist. I explained what had happened and how I have never had this problem before with count being wrong (I have had them give me name brand instead of generic 2 times, had the wrong strength 1 time, and then now this) so as I was explaining I could tell that she was not listening to me and could care less. She treated me like I was a drug seeking junkie, which I am not, I am EXTREMELY careful with my prescriptions knowing that I have a life time of them ahead of me. I will not ever be off these meds due to my medical condition. I take a drug test every single time I go to my physician as procedure, and I go every 4 weeks. So, what I want to know is that if my Doctor is monitoring my situation and gives me my written meds and I don’t ask for “Early” fills, or “Emergency” changes or what not, then why did this pharmacist treat me as if I was in the wrong. I was bringing the issue to her attention because there is obviously something going on that they need to look into. I asked them to count their stock of this specific med, she said it was exactly where it needed to be, I asked her if they had cameras they could review to be sure that someone didnt “pocket” those 10 pills and she just sounded annoyed. Can anyone explain that to me? IF someone is stealing controlled substances, wouldn’t you WANT to know that? And even so, her count would not be off if someone pocketed the pills. The fill amount would still say 120, but my bottle would only have 110. Am I wrong here? I go from doc appt to doc appt and I take my script as prescribed. So if I am shorted by 10 pills that really is a big problem for me as I cannot fill early or go to the doctor early. She also said there is nothing she can do to fix the problem for this month. Next month, we will count them together and I can verify them (which is perfect for me) and I do not have a problem with that. I am not a drug seeker, but I don’t want to be taken advantage of, or treated with disrespect when I am truly a customer that got short changed. What would a bank do if a customer was shorted money? If the customer complained, they would review it, if the customer is correct then they give them the shortage. Why is a pharmacy not the same? They are responsible for life saving medications and if they short someone, are they not required to take care of that and make it right? Say, if it was a heart medication or something of that nature. My medication is for a medical problem I have and I have had over 2 years of tests completed to come to this conclusion, so why am I being treated like a Drug Dealer?

If pharmacist did count the on stock level and came out correctly, you are out of the luck. In my pharmacy alone has 10cameras every which angles and has another 6cameras on the cash registers.
You are a habitual user either you take the controlled substance for medical use or not, you are hooked on narcotics.

Just wait, until you or a loved one lives in constant, horrific pain and someone tells you or that person that either of you are hooked on narcotics. Is people with a heart condition hooked on their meds that keep them alive? bet your ass they are! If you were a little intelligent, just a tiny bit, you would know the difference of being hooked and be dependent, totally different story. People without a minimum sense of humanity, like you, should know that Karma is a bitch, who can takes her time to catch up with you, but sooner or later, always does. Enjoy your judgmental and non compassionate ways while you can.

I love my pharmacist and the techs. They do everything they can to help me and make my life easier.
I hate my insurance company. They do everything possible to make a dime off me and the pharmacy. They stay up nights trying to think of new ways to make getting meds and paying for them more difficult.
That’s my view.
PS> I haven’t taken pain meds in over 10 yrs (C-sect.)

I always wonder how the idjit on oxycontin who gets it paid for by welfare is ALWAYS travelling. “oh I’m going away. Fill it early”. Ummm, no. Get your doctor to write you a note. No, I will not call your doctor to request this. You want it early, you are on welfare, what else have you got to do??? And where are they getting the money to do all this “travelling”? Oh yeah, they’re selling their pills….

Wow Did you even pass your HIPPA Test or Medical Law clas???? I dont care about any of the comments really, but when you start judging and throwing in welfare, thats pretty harsh!! How do you know what the reason is for that person getting medicine???? Sometimes I hate Pharmacists and I do everything right!! why dont you put up a sight about the fucking doctors who started all this shit in the first place. there all money hungry fucks!!!! And then you guys turn it on everyone and say their junkies????

Again you’re another pathetic example of how pharmacists attempt to play guessing games. You are attempting to put yourself above others in importance when you have no clue of what is really going on. The problem is if you assume everyone is selling them, you are going to treat customers as if you are a douche bag. Oh wait… Again, be thankful you are not working at mcdonalds ungrateful twit.

Not that anyone asked me, personally, but I noticed in reading the comments that someone brought up Suboxone…. My feeling on Suboxone is that it’s a good thing. Methadone has so many restrictions on its use, that it is prohibitive for many abusers to seek/get treatment. I’d rather they be on Suboxone then shooting up heroine with a dirty, disease-infested needle…. And it has naloxone in it too boot (as opposed to Subutex). There is a huge stigma with the methadone treatment programs and methadone itself is probably a worse drug to get someone hooked on than even heroine. So, that’s my take on that….

Thank you for that DrRx. I am a long time opiate addict and have been using Suboxone to treat it (6 yrs and counting), after all, it is a medication to treat a condition. I receive OHP that I pay for monthly (they base it on income), and I also work as a caregiver. It took a long time to get the Subs covered, as they are so incredibly expensive. I have worked hard to change my life and am grateful for the Subs. This is the first time I have stayed clean and had not even a hint of a craving. And unlike Methadone, I feel completely normal.

Some pharmacies treat me like any other person, but I must say they are the minority. Just one example, yesterday I went to fill my prescription and the did not have any left to fill it. I asked if they could check a couple other Safeway’s and I would go there…..he told me no, they don’t do that. He would not even look me in the eye. he even made a snide comment about me not having a co-pay. Now, when the same happened with my Lasix (I have CHF), the very same pharmacist told me to hold on a few minutes and he would find me a Safeway with Lasix in stock. Completely different attitude. *sigh*

I have just learned to let go. If a pharmacy decides to judge me, that’s on them. I know I am a good, honest person and strive to be a better person every day. I cannot control people, places and things and cannot allow myself to fight every battle. So, I quietly walk away and find a different solution. There’s always going to be people who see what medication I take and consider my garbage. I can’t change that. But on the flip side, I have a lot of people rotting for me and that love me, and for that I am grateful…..that, and this medication that has not only saved my life, but gave me something to live for. 🙂

What wonderful news KayKay! Your post was so positive in the face of all the negativity. The fact is, there are just going to be people in the world who make life difficult for others, whether intentionally or unintentionally. We all have to make our own choices, try to treat others kindly and compassionately and pray others do the same. I am a 44 year old professional making close to six figures and the mother of a 23 year old collegiate athlete I have had the same experiences as some of you and it was very frustrating. The thing that gets me the most is the time wasted. I am on Adderall and also regular low dose Hydrocodone for chronic back pain. If it helps, I have had absolutely no problems at all with the pharmacies at a hospital or doctor’s building. They seem to be much more understanding of the patient’s plight – whether from exposure or more training, I’m not sure but if you want to try it, I hope it works! I have left all the corporate pharmacies – I won’t even buy a bottle of nail polish there – and use Kroger for everything. They must have a policy of being non-intrusive or again, perhaps they have more training, either way, they make my life easier.

I pray that things get better for all of you and that you are met with compassion by pharmacy staff who are able to see the bigger picture. We are all children of God and deserve to be treated as such.

i am a resident at a large chain in Boston… a patient came to me with their Adderall and before i could say anything, she said i’m going to pay cash for this… being sketched out, i put it through her medicaid (go figure) and it came up refill to soon… i say i have to call to check on the prescription… as i am on the phone i am watching over pick-up… when i turn around, she was gone… HAH

Vacation supply…How about the ones that come in late on a Friday night needing their Vicos early-Saying they are leaving early Saturday, tomorrow, Morning—only to see them that
Monday afternoon at the front counter buying cigs??? I asked one once…I thought you were going on Vacation?? Only to get the blank stare and the UB-DAh UB-DAh response
Gravelpit

If you want to do someone a favor do it. Don’t be big brother about it. Some people ARE liars, yes, but not everyone is. People have real needs and get sick. And sometimes they make excuses because they can’t explain the full nature of it. That said, it doesn’t always mean you caught them red handed in the exact way you think you did. Just think of your own life. Surely people have gotten the wrong impression of you over things that were not true etc..

I just don’t understand. If it is the same doc and the same patient and the RX has a full date on it….what’s the issue? The doctor knows what’s going on. It’s dangerous to just stop. Unfortunately,I too must take medications I don’t want to take and my situation will only get worse. I cannot take most narcotics. I’m allergic to them I truly should be on a long acting. But I’m not because of this. What’s the issue if the doc has the date on it? They check the website all of the time for the DEA. Why is it such a problem. My local small town pharmacy closed and I’m stuck with big box stores. I never had an issue and now it’s an issue all of the time.

im just curious how much it would cost the dea if we were not doing their jobs. i’m on the ed side of it (my doc is out of town/its friday night/my dog/gerbil/snake ate them/cant you give me some samples doc?). methinks we should just give up, leave a bowl of vicoden at the entrance, ya get a handful each day and let the dea pick up the addicts as they leave. it sure would relieve the gumming up of the system with imagined/contrived/malingering.

Now that I’ve jumped off the retail pharmacy hell train, I have hospital stories to tell. Our state has that narcotic reporting system now – you know the one where you can get a list of all the narcs a patient got, the pharmacy where they were filled and the numbnut doctors you prescribed them?
We had one of those losers in our ER who fit the profile of someone to check. Oh, I dont know, maybe it was the way he asked for Vicodins (plural) or how he said he couldnt take injections: the pills are the only thing that works! Or maybe it was the way he had this shooting pain in his shoulder but for some reason nothing shows up on the MRI? I happened to be in the trauma room next to him and after he would get done with the sob story to the nurses, he would f-bomb them behind their backs when they left. I told the ER doc when she was ordering this guyï¿½s next dose of Morphine, that maybe she should recognize the red flags of deceit. We ran his narcotic report and hit the motherload. Usually these reports are a page or two long. His was 10 pages! I think he went to every doctor and pharmacy in the friggin state. He tried to come up with some excuse for why Toradol or Ultram wouldnt work for him.
These people are losers and they are not only killing themselves, they are making it harder on the legit patients. Like you said with Oxycontin. This is a great drug but now the doctors are scared to prescribe it.

“but for some reason nothing shows up on the MRI?”, he sounds very deceitful, except there are many cases where people feel bad pain and NOTHING shows up on the MRI. The MRI doesn’t show pain. It only shows defects. However, a person can have severe pain and it will show noting on MRI or XRAYs. They are not a magic bullet.

I’m not sure how you got involved with his care or conversation as that is a HIPPA violation. I had shoulder pain. My shoulder was fine. I actually had cervical myelopathy….don’t judge. I never took a pain pill in my life. Ever. I don’t drink alcohol and I’m allergic to most of the narcotics. I’m sorry. Yes there are addicts and dealers. Although, now a days they skip the pharmacy and the docs and go straight to the heroin (yup so much better for you).

I have never worked in a pharmacy, so I have to ask…
Are there really THAT MANY people who are “strung out” on Vicodin (and other opioids)? Judging by what I’ve read on this board, it sounds like Vicodin prescriptions make up like 75% of all the Rxs filled! Is it really this big of a problem? Soma, too?

You say that your patients/clients can return unused medications to be destroyed, do most pharmacies do this? If not, what is the best way to dispose of old medication? Sorry for the questions, my grandmother died in April and my family hasn’t done anything with all her medicine yet.
Thanks.

I get a kick out of ferreting out an abuser. Anyone else with me on that?
Lady comes in a few weeks ago and wants a fill for her Adderall 20mg, legit script and all.. so I run it through while she waits and surprise, insurance rejects, RTS. “Oh that’s fine, I’ll pay cash for it.” Strike one. The dosage is three in the morning and two at noon, for a grand total of 100mg a day by lunchtime. Strike two. So the pharmacy manager and I check her profile, see that she’s got two current different doctors (and a couple more she was no longer seeing), tell her that we don’t have enough on hand but our order was coming in the next day so we could fill it then, and we’ll hold onto the script. She accepts that, and we use the time we bought to call both of the current doctors and make sure they’re aware of the situation. They both are.. AND ARE FINE WITH IT!!! WTF?! The second guy tells us she’s coming in a few days later for an appt and he was going to “make her sign a contract to only go to one doctor and one pharmacy.” Yeah, right. She comes back the next morning, we tell her we can’t fill her script in good faith, and she asks for the script back, MENTIONING THAT SHE WAS GOING TO ANOTHER NEARBY PHARMACY. Steeeerike three, you’re a junkie. Needless to say, we called them and clued them in. I think she eventually got it filled because she’s rich and the docs didn’t give a shit. Oh well, our asses are covered and she’s got her fix, everybody’s happy.
Idiot junkies make this job both a lot more and a lot less fun than it should be.. but it’s patients like that last group, that treat you respectfully and logically that really keep you sane and make the whole thing worthwhile.

You are yet another one you should NOT be a pharmacist. Just the fact that you derive some sort of sick pleasure from playing what amounts to basically guessing games is strike #1. You type like an adolescent kid trying to look cool with your mnemonics that contain F words, strike #2, You admit near the bottom that your “asses are covered” which was your only intent, strike #3. As you see, that kind of strike 1,2,3 thing is pretty stupid. and your a pharmacist? No wonder we have so much trouble sometimes. The idiots come and go..

Adam:
Thank goodness you saved the world.
Thanks goodness you stopped the rich junkie lady
from getting her fix. Its silly judgmental screwballs like you
that ruin this world. I don’t mind when you do your perverted crap
like when you put that gerbil up your butt but hey live and let live.
What a poor pathetic life you must lead that your major excitement of the day is how you stopped the lady from getting her adderall her doctors were ok yet thank goodness we have you to save society. Just get to counting 1,2,3,4,5… stop with your sleuthing to figure out whose a junkie or not. Take a look at yourself my friend remember instated of being a judgmental christian remember what the big man said ” let he without sin cast the first stone”. Just fill the script and get along in your small life. I know you want to star in your own reality tv pharmacy detective show but get over it. I was amazed how quickly you figured it you are a real Hardy boy. No one can fool you. These are the people keeping you in business if you only want people picking up pepto bismol there is no need for you remeber that

At the VA Medical Center I once worked at, we double-counted all controlled-drug Rx, then covered the vial caps with red tamper-evident tape. That way, any vial returned to us with a questioned amount would be questioned right back if th tape seal was broken.

That makes no sense. The patient has to open the bottle to count the amount and notice some missing. You really don’t think some pharmacists and techs short people on meds and steal some? I get patients lie, but this definitely happens also.

Please visit my site. You inspired me to start my own.http://farmacyisfun.blogspot.com
I just wrote a blog and my last sentence relates to this topic. Of course you have samples of the other script, you just want the hydrocodone, right? Riiiigggghhhht.

I can understand why it would be frustrating to have people making up stories for their controlled substances. I’m just glad that it didn’t make the pharmacist too jaded to help out when we went to another state and my husband left his nitroglycerin tablets at home. After the prescription expired. On Thanksgiving weekend. All for about $.90
I know it cost more in long distance charges, not to mention the pharmacist’s time, for that one. So no, I don’t think pharmacists are assholes – except for one and I don’t think she’s still got her license. That didn’t have anything to do with narcotics, either.

Judy, don’t sweat it. 99% of the “pharmacists” here act like children who don’t deserve their positions. They all act like they are for the “good” of mankind, but in reality they are just as flawed as the people they are judging.

You bring up something I have been wanting to ask but didn’t want to broach…
Now that I am minus a brain tumor, I am off all of my pain meds [Fentanyl and Morphine]. What do I do with the extra patches? I haven’t known who to trust to hand them over, and you know why.
Should I turn them in to the pharmacist, really? (Not questioning your judgement, just asking for reassurance)
Lisa

I agree with all above. We are jaded. So many interesting stories though. Wink, wink. It is always interesting how the chronic pain pts almost never ask for meds early (except maybe once a year for a REAL vacation).

I have to give all of you credit. I worked in the ER department for years, and have seen it all. But then my family and I were involved in car accident. I am now on chronic pain management. There are some techs that need to realize that not everyone taking narcotics are drug addicts. My pharmacy will only fill pain meds if the patient fills all prescriptions there. But the real reason I decide to reply was because of the person that keeps complaining about all the injustices done him from you pharmacists…what I keep laughing about is that as of yet..not one of you all have responded to anything he has said. I think thats great.

My favorite is when a parent and child both come in with prescriptions for oxycodone AND oxycontin. The family that gets high together stays together, I guess. It’s even worse when a suspected addict’s child comes in with narcotic prescriptions that you’re pretty sure the kid is never going to use. We’ve even got a “Pain Clinic” near our pharmacy that pumps out oxycodone and vicodin prescriptions like they’re candy. The best part is the majority of these are medicaid patients. Nice to see my tax dollars hard at work.

We take two different medications and our monthly refill (well, new script, but you know) dates are about two weeks apart.

When I took my daughter’s in to be filled (2 days before she runs out as usual), the pharmacist calls me over to the end of the counter and stares at me then said “What’s going on, here? You just filled this two weeks ago.” I was panicked and my mind was reeling, thinking “Did someone fill a fake script with my daughter’s name on it?” Luckily I had her bottle in my purse and showed it, with the date of 28 days prior and with the two remaining pills. He turned his back to me and said “well that label is wrong, then.”

There were people STARING at me. Then it dawned on me…..I asked him what was the FIRST name was on the script I supposedly filled 2 weeks prior and he said MY name. I said “Well that is MY name and the medication is a different one than this script with my DAUGHTER’s name which is the one I am attempting to fill today!” He said he was not going to fill it and slid my paper script across the counter.

I was humiliated and angry. As a side note, we were customers of this same pharmacy for 4 years, with the same prescriptions/dosages/doctors and never once had a problem.

I walked across the street to another chain pharmacy, in tears. Asked to talk to the pharmacist and she was very understanding, saw no issue with my legit script and 5 years later, I am still a loyal customer and have never once had our meds mixed up nor been made to feel like a scummy criminal because some jackass pharmacist made a boo boo and refused to admit it.

Patients should not be treated like scum just because the pharmacist is butt hurt and suspicious. Change jobs if you are too bitter to do your job in a professional, compassionate manner.

Dear Dr. RX,
Are you brainwashed.
Giving an addict Suboxone so they won’t use Heroin/Oxcodone. Is like giving a Pedaphile a 10 year old instead of a 3 year old, because they’ll put up more of a fight.
In both cases the addiction gets satisfied without the addict dealing with the real thing that is causing their addiction…THEMSELVES.
That’s right, it’s not the drug that makes them addicted…It’s the fact that when they look in the mirror all they say is I’m Great and the rest of me I can’t deal with so I do something to forget about it.
So, everyone should stop their bleeding hearts for the “poor” addict–it’s not their fault…because an addict won’t get better until they start dealing with themselves and that happens when they either hit rock bottom or die…until then they’re a slowly sinking ship…and Suboxone is like the Titanic, It’s supposed to keep them from sinking but in the end they wind up at the bottom of the ocean…only slower
Gravelpit

Yor eyes must be brown… If not, I don’t undestand why not because you’re so full of she it… I was extremely hooked on hydros for 7 yrs. and finally(after 12 to 14 attempts to quit myself) decided to find a Dr. w/ the DEA # that could prescribe the suboxones… I was told that I would probably have to take them for 3 or 4 yrs if not the rest of mt life!!! I was determined and and after 6 mos worth of suboxone I was able to stop it!!! I also went to NA meetings for the extra support-still do 3-4 times a month and started back to college for a degree in drug/alcohol rehab councelor… Suboxone saved my life!!! I now have a great job I absolutely love helping people… Just celebrated my 6 yr B’Day from hydros on July 16th!!! So IMO the suboxone is a miracle drug…

Sorry bout the brown eyed comment… Everyone does have their own opinions… Our just differ and that I’m gratful for!!!

I maybe should’nt have turned the doc that wrote me 4,up to 6 different scripts for the hydros every month, but I did!!! She had already been red-flagged again after being in trouble several times… Now she has’nt a U.S. medical license and her whereabouts are suspected to be in her mother country…

I do feel drug addiction is an illness that one has to want to treat (under a dr.s care, most usually)… Atleast it was a God-send for me!!!

You, Gravelpit, have obviously never been on these medications or ever been in true, daily, non-stop pain. Can you imagine every second of every day being in pain? There is not one second that goes by that my husband does not hurt. As a legitimate Pain Management Patient, with lots of problems, He takes his meds as prescribed and is physically addicted to them. That is the nature of those drugs. If he were to not take them, for some reason, without first taking the suboxone or subutex, he would be violently ill, throwing up, massive stomach aches and pains, and those are just a few symptoms to start. I hope that you, yourself are never in a massive car accident or have cancer to where you find yourself in need of pain medication, long term. Any patient who has been prescribed by a doctor a narcotic pain med for longer than 6 months will get physically addicted whether they take the med as prescribed or whether they abuse it. If you stop taking them, you will need to detox using suboxone or subutex or be insanely sick, those are your 2 choices when you want to stop taking your PRESCRIBED Medication. So when you are talking about these “poor addicts” remember that not all of them are JUNKIES! My husband was hit by an 18 wheeler Semi-truck! He was driving a dodge neon, so I’ll assume that you can imagine how that ended for him, he was lucky to still be living, let alone not paralized! Without these meds, he’d probably blow his head off from the pain! I have to sit here, completely helpless, and watch him suffer! On another note, I don’t understand something and guess I never will… My husband was seen, evaluated, and tested by a liscenced DOCTOR, He wrote him this script… WHO are you to say that he doesn’t need this or to give a look like he’s a drug addict. Every pharmacist does it in their own way, being the person who goes into have it filled since my husband has a hard time walking. What is that?

Right on, if they had to live with chronic pain everyday,every minute, they would view this much differently! I did, I was in pain every minute for 4 years from back and Lyme disease.. Horrible! I tried to kill myself it was so bad, until a doctor took me seriously and figured it out… I went to the doc so much while my Vic’s he gave me sat in the medicine cabinet cause didn’t want to take pills.. But finally I had to, otherwise there was no quality of life at all.. You can’t do anything happily when your in chronic severe pain.. It sucks…certainly there’s a pharmicyst out there that has similar issues, you just need to talk to them to straighten some of this out for ya.. I’m not saying there’s not a users addicts out there, but I had a couple strange looks and run ins at the pharmacy to we’re they thought something else was(addict) other than was what was really going on… I assure you I’ve never been addicted to anything.. I may have built a little dependence or tolerance, but 2 seperate things. Look it up.. Didn’t they teach you guys this in school… I’ve actually had to pull the calendar off the wall and count it out for the JA pharmacyst…. Rediculous!

dfrank you are addicted, but dont think of that as a bad thing ,it is strictly caused by the meds you need to function
junkies are people who take drugs for recreation and are now addicted to them.unfortunately addict is now equated with being a junkie(i guess the original definition of junkie was heroin addict,since heroin is called junk or was)
when a lot of people didnt want to be addicts but due to medical conditions are. not by choice.

Let me throw a question into the mix: What happens when a legitimate patient with pain and a script for Vicodin comes in to get his script refilled early, because the dosage he was given was inadequate? I notice there is a lot of mention of scripts for â30 Vicodin.â You do realize that those scripts usually say âtake every 4-6 hours for painâ and not âtake once a day for pain, and suffer the rest of the time.â Now, maybe I was taught a different form of math than doctors or pharmacists, but a months supply of a med taken every 4-6 hours adds up to anywhere from 120 to 180 pills, not 30. If the patient actually takes this script as directed, he will run out in less than a week. Why is it therefore some kind of crime for him to show up looking for an âearlyâ refill? Do you expect everyone to understand that these scripts can only be filled every 30 days, when other scripts can be refilled sooner? Why donât you scream at the doctor for not writing an adequate script in the first place instead of accusing the patient of being a drug seeker? Could it be you get a little thrill out of being able to abuse people whose onlly âcrimeâ is that theyâre in pain and want to not be in pain? Naaaaaaah.

Hey Redhawk,
Not only are we pharmacists able to count by fives, but we can also take the number of tablets and divide it by the number directed by the prescriber per day to find a fancy number called the Days Supply. So in your example 30/6 per day equals a 5 day supply. So yeah, we’d expect the patient back in a minimum of 5 days. But the same directions with 180 tablets? Not so much.
Besides unless you want to blow out our liver on acetaminophen you should talk to your doctor about a stronger pain med instead of taking more per day.
I wish I could practice pharmacy instead of being treated like an idiot by people who would ask God himself for an early refill because their cat knocked their pills down the garbage disposal – and turned the disposal on! Twice!

Redhawk – Anon is correct and the responsibilty for talking to the doctor rest with you not the pharmacist. If you run out after a week and think you need more then take charge and talk with the Dr. about you’re treatment plan and prognosis. Ask if there is a better medication to treat you with, something that will hold you for a month (provided you follow the directions for use)so you won’t need to run the gauntlet at the pharmacy.

I am just a pharmacy patient, not a tech or pharmacist but I find the blog really interesting. I am sorta young (early 30’s) and unfortunately have some chronic pain due to a car accident about 9 years ago. Something that anon said got to me…
” Besides unless you want to blow out our liver on acetaminophen you should talk to your doctor about a stronger pain med instead of taking more per day.”
Well, I had a family dr for the better part of 13 years (so before this accident). Anyway, he gave me a script for Vicodin 5/500 about a year and a half ago when the pain got worse. I then started to tell him it wasn’t working well, and some days I was up to 6/day and I still had pain of 6 or 7 out of 10. He would just tell me to take more…he couldn’t prescribe anything different, just take more. It wasn’t until about 4 months ago that I got fed up and switched dr’s. Well the new dr couldn’t believe how much I was on…and not to mention that I want to start trying to get pregnant within the next year. So, we switched the meds a bit, and now I am down to maybe 1-2 a week. Of course, I never went into the phramacy to get my meds early…I just dealt with the pain as best I could, took less on the days I could and more on the days I needed it. And despite my pain etc. I try to be the best patient I can…but when they say the refill will be ready in 2 hours, and it still isn’t, well I’m sure you can appreciate why I might get a little pissed. (Tell me 3 hours…I don’t care, but I don’t want to call it in & give adequate time then still have to wait!)

wow,i didnt know you guys had that much bullshit going on behind the counter!seriously,i would like to say sorry for all the folks that gives you and your industry a hard time.with that said,i am a CHRONIC PAIN person.
i used to run marathons and live a very active lifestyle,one day some one took that all away from me.
i am very sick and tired of the way doctors and pharmacists treat me.
not to say that all pharmacists and doc’s have been bad,but there are maybe,5 people that i have encountered,that genuinly care to help.
i take 3 vicodin a day.no more,no less,even though my doctor scripts it like this(#100,every 4-6hrs,10/500).
the pharmacists just shakes his head when i come in every month(30 days).luckily i am not having any problems at this point but, i do remeber all the hassle i went thru when this first started after my accident.
i think it is horrible the way most doctors and pharmacists think and the way they demean us patients.
do you think i wanted to get into a car accident?
do you think i wanted to loose most of the quality of life i used to live?
come on now,noone plans for stuff to happen,but yet shit does happen.
i have tried all the meds for treating pain,not even gonna waist your time listing them.
there is no way i can help that my body and chemical make up respond best with vicodin for the pain.just no way can i control that,so when i walk in to the doctors office or pharmacy and get shot down,almost immediately when that word “vicodin” comes up.
holy crap, you would have thought i literaly dropped a bomb in the place.i recently moved 5 hours from home and needed to set up new health care here.
small town,every body knows everybody.
for all the other fools out there,you truly have killed this medicine and the way it is used!
for folks like me,honest,hard working,faithful,and trying to live a good life,we get pushed to the side,degraded,labeled,lack of privacy,all of it.for what???
i wonder if there will be a day when these opiod medicnes wont carry such a stigmata with them?
if there is a medicine that helps people have quality of life,why is it under lock and key all the time?why do true chronic pain patients have to practicly grovel to get some releif and maybe an ounce of respect?
maybe some out here will know the answers to my questions,for i dont.
do i deserve the treatment i have gotten? no way,i am human not a dog nor a snake.i am your average person next door who didnt expect to be a chronic pain patient

It cuts both ways, angry pharmacists. I went in to my pharmacy on Sunday at 4:30 PM to order refills on my controlled substances (because they are invariably screwed up as a result of whoever fills them not knowing the difference between “brand” and “generic”). Both prescriptions were filled on 7/9 (Monday), but one had to be re-done when I went to pick them up on 7/10 because I was given generic and had requested name brand. Let’s just focus on the first one. I’m told by the pharmacist that controlled substance prescriptions can’t be refilled until 28 days after the last fill (in the case of a 30 day supply). I say “I know, which is why I’m ordering it now, 30 minutes before you close, so I can pick it up tomorrow, the 28th day after the last fill, and to make sure you give me the right meds this time.” I’m told that Monday is still too early, and that the Rx can’t be filled until the 28th day (Tuesday), which is really the 29th day. The pharmacist gets out a calculator and somehow confirms that 8/7 is 28 days away from 7/9 (remember, there are 31 days in July). I don’t really have much at stake (since I always make my 30 day supplies last longer than 30 days to guard against contingencies like this), but at this point it’s a matter of principle. So I say “Try this; there are 7 days in a week. 4 times 7 is 28. Therefore, if the prescription was initially filled on a Monday, 28 days after must fall on the same day of the week, which is Monday, which is tomorrow.” The pharmacist remains unconvinced, insists that the 28th day is Tuesday, and I’m reminded of the line from the movie “Best in Show”: “You know what, you’re just gonna have to let this one go.”
Furthermore, why do you guys use The Controlled Substances Act, which was enacted as law under a lying, conniving president (Nixon) as the template for judging the moral worth of people? Some doctors really don’t give a shit about fighting the war on drugs (with all the collateral damage it entails) and resent in the extreme the substitution of the “imperatives” of law enforcement for their own medical judgement in the dispensation of medication to their patients. It’s hard to believe that some of you care about anything more than punishing people because you consider them to be your moral inferiors. I’d be really careful about passing judgements like that based simply on the chemicals that one ingests. If my doctor prescribes Lipitor, are you gonna give me that “look” that you reserve for suspected gluttons?

What is wrong with treating sick people with compassion? What good does it do to be judgemental? Does it make you feel superior? I guess I was mistaken that medical professionals were there to help and be compassionate. I am so dissapointed in all of you. I work everyday in an enviroment where I am disrespected by the people I serve, but I am there to help and be patient, compassionate. That is what gets through, not being judgemental. I am sorry for you all.

confessions of an early filler:
Having been the patient that hoped to have something filled early, might I offer my perspective (and I can only speak of my experience, I dont presume that mine is shared by all). When I first discovered that I could live a pain free life with medication it seemed almost too good to be true. I could finally do the many things that I love but had been unable to do because of the pain, most notably play with my kids again, carry them on my shoulders, bend over and pick them up when they were hurt, etc. As time went on it was clear that tolerance was becoming a problem so the dose went up. And so began the vicious cycle. The problem escalated when I couldnt take them as needed, as noted on the prescription, because to do so would induce withdrawals. So I became accustomed to taking them regularly whether I needed them at that moment or not, to continue to live something of a normal life. Then, eventually it became Ill just take one extra to get through this meeting, or this plane flight, or this trip to disneyworld. This, done too often, of course further increases the tolerance and before you know it you are early and in deep shit because the only thing worse than the pain is pain+withdrawls.
I dont know if any of you have ever experienced the withdrawals associated with opiate based pain medication but its absolutely terrible. The reason, I suspect, that people get so upset when their little plans fail to fill early is because you are sentencing them to this fate. Pain, diarrhea, depression, intense mood swings, cold sweats, stomach pain the list goes on. There have been times when I have legitimately lost my medication or was taking an extended business trip and needed an early fill to cover these circumstances, but there have also been other times when I just simply took too many, too recklessly to get through events like those mentioned above.
Ive been the recipient of the looks and judgments you are describing and, for what its worth, they are not helpful in any way. You talk about how you arent stupid, well neither thats a two way street. Again and again Ive read here about patient care. How does all of the happiness you gain from fingering an early filler jive with patient care. How about smoothening like this, you know, I know you are taking more than prescribed and/or getting more of this elsewhere. This is really bad for you. I understand that you have a legitimate reason for taking this, but you need to consider the consequences of your current actions. This will only get worse, not better. Here are some options for you (treatment centers, different doctors, alternative medicine??? I dont know what they are because nobody has cared enough for this patient to do anything but the things youve described here; knowing glances, sarcasm, judgment, etc).
Maybe this approach only has an effect on 1 out of 10, but wouldnt that be worth it? You are asking for the patients to simply offer you respect and compassion and yet you are not offering the same in return. To quote the original post, we are people too. Just my 1/50 of a dollar.

I am in the same situation. There are days that I DO take an extra thinking I can make up for it another day, but then something else comes up and I short myself. I have only myself to blame and I find that I have to start splitting pills just to keep from getting too sick from withdrawals. I am totally dependent, but do not feel like I’m an addict because I use it for pain relief. I have discovered that being honest with my doctor and pharmacist helps to keep up a good relationship. I know there are seekers out there and it makes it hard for those of us that need it, but if you are honest then I think that eliminates a lot of the trouble that so many people deal with.
People who feel they are being treated unfairly should find another pharmacy, since I had to do that once. I feel that in being honest you can earn the respect of all involved.
As for the livelihood of the pharmacy staff…well, that’s what they have to do. This is a venting platform for them and they do deal with sooooo much crap! Give them a break, there job is on the line. I would do the same. Thank you to all of you who put up with the druggies who don’t need this stuff and choose to be respectful to people like me. Shame on you who don’t.

I love the vacation excuse considering I work in an area where 80% of my crackpots are on welfare – it’s amazing how they always have the cash to pay for a vacation, oh yeah, and to pay cash for their early Xanax since state welfare doesn’t allow for vacation overrides!

Okay, my script was giving to me on the 26th with the instructions to take 1 immediately. I was only gave 20 pills but the bottle says must last thirty days….even though it says take 1 per day. Okay heres what im concerned about, i have to work saturday which would be the 25 and wont be able to make it to the pharmacy before 3 and the place is closed on Sunday. Do you think it would be a big deal for me to pick them up on Friday?

You guys are all Assholes. You’re cruel, and you think addiction is funny. Its people like you and you’re psychotic delusion that everyone who takes pain medication is an addict. So people who suffer in chronic pain and are truly in need can’t get the care and medication they need. If this is how you really feel you shouldn’t be allowed to interact with people at all. I see all the horrible comments you make about people, and don’t worry, even us non-addicts who have legit conditions and take our medication like we should think the same things about you. I don’t know if this will be posted cause this looks like a one sided blog.

I love the people who are always “going on vacation” or “out of town”. They have pharmacies “out of town”. We have a customer who tells me this every week, every week I tell them they cannot have their meds early. Then the next week I see them in the store. So I ask “oh, I thought you were going out of town?”, and somehow the trip always gets postponed.

Ah, but you can’t fill some prescriptions out of the area in which you live. I was told this by a rph.

I was in an 11-week training program out-of-state last summer and had to make sure I timed my visits home around filling my rx for the month rather than what was the best time for my family. All because my 20 mg a DAY rx of Adderall (same dose for ten years) is so suspicious that it cannot be filled in the State of Texas. And there was no work-around for me to fill early before I left for the summer. Because suspicious jerks like you would assume I m lying about going out of town. Everyone knows people don’t REALLY have to go out of town. I mean, maybe people who don’t take controlled meds, do, but scum like me couldn’t POSSIBLY have need to travel.

I am a middle aged school teacher with no criminal record, but I sure get treated like I am the shiftiest scum of the earth because I am prescribed a legitimate, low dosage medication and frankly, I am sick of it. It’s just crap.

None of you have obviously been afflicted with chronic pain, nor do you have sympathy for those who have. Some dr.’s understand that there is not an exact formula or dosage as to what treats the symptoms. I understand your “ethical” responsibilities as it pertains to your job and I also understand what it means to practice “professional skepticism”, however, you are not doctors and do not have any insight into what is going on. Your decisions often affect many others “good and bad”. Not trying to bash anyone, just stating a different point of view from the other side. I do understand that alot of people abuse these drugs, and most of you feel this your job to monitor. I feel this is the doctors responsibility and some these remarks (listed here) are just not right. You job as a pharmacist should be to fill the prescriptions and do as the dr. perscribes. If the insurance will not allow this refill, then it is out of your hands.

I agree with you John. As far as responsibilities,IMO, the pharmacist should do as follows:
1. Take prescription, verify name, address, dob, insurance, etc.
2. Check prescription for drug interactions/allergy with patient’s other prescription drugs. No interactions/allergies? THEN
3. Fill said prescription, slap a label on it and hand it to the customer (or tech who waits on the customer) with a smile.
4. Say nicely, “Thank you. Have a nice day.”

That’s it. Not this, “Hee-hee-I’m sooo juvenile, I’m gonna play a game and see if I can bust this poor bastard who MIGHT be (not that I can prove it, but, ya know, just the fact that this idgit (as some esteemed ‘pharmacist’ on this board referred to someone earlier) takes narcotic medication is reason enough for me (said holy pharmacist) to view them as low life scum. “Hmmm-let’s see”, (says said holy pharmacist)”he/she doesn’t appear to want an early fill, but if they did it would be because they are a scum junkie (you know, not some other reason like-the dosage is too low and no longer provides pain relief) they are just a junkie.”

It’s hard for patients to not be angry. The last thing that I would do is pass judgment on YOU by the way YOU look, the food YOU consume or the prescription medications which YOU put into YOUR mouth. How dare you do that when I come to pick up my legitimate prescription for a legitimate medical condition? That would be like me calling you a fat assed slob just because you eat at Burger King five days a week when maybe you have a weight problem because you have oh, I don’t know, hypothyroidism maybe? Who made you King Poobah who makes the decision whether I get my script filled or not? Who are you to question the doctor? Who are you to refuse his order of a written prescription? I desperately want to believe that all pharmacists are not like this, but in my 49 years on this planet, I am sad to report that many of them are. If you, as a pharmacist, are that jaded and cynical, then perhaps it is time for you to explore another line of work. And may none of you pharmacists ever experience the kind of chronic, debilitating pain that many on this forum do. May none of you ever experience knowing and/or loving a drug addict. Addiction is a disease-just like diabetes, high blood pressure and others. It, too, can be treated, but first the ignorance must be cast aside and education gleaned so you know what it is. In order to do that, you pharmacists must dismount your “high horse.”

being a pharmacy tech, it is interesting to interact with pharmacists and patients in these situations dealing with chronic pain patients. Everyone just has to understand that there are good and bad pharmacists, as there are good and bad chronic pain patients (the bad not being chronic pain patients at all).
A pharmacist’s job is not just filling prescriptions and doing what the doc says. I have run into many situations (just as a tech, not including what the pharmacist has encountered!)where if the pharmacist did not call the doc to clarify and correct the dosage/strength/drug, and “just did what the dr said,” the patient would have undoubtedly been seriously hurt, or would even have DIED.
I can understand why it would feel good to catch an abuser, and see justice served. Take the average day of any pharmacist (being lied to, cursed at, threatened to be sued, etc.) I see it first hand, and it’s bullshit. Being able to see something done about something that is truly wrong is rewarding for everyone, is it not? Especially if these are the same people who badger you day in and day out about their narcotics. It is our job (techs and pharmacists) to maintain good pharmacy ethics, and to fill rxs,and provide drug therapy to our patients. Pharmacists, as mentioned before, HAVE to be suspicious of ALL rx’s. Why else would every rx have to be checked thoroughly by the pharmacist, even just for medications like lisinopril or allegra. You can thank the abusers all over the country for how hard it is to get the meds you need. Don’t blame us.
and Carly, you obviously dont work in a pharmacy, and never have. we don’t think every patient with a narcotic is an addict. patients DO get the healthcare they need, as long as it is legit. If they didn’t, doctors wouldn’t even bother anymore. If it is a narcotic, don’t expect to get a refill early without fighting tooth and nail for it, because although you may really be going on vacation, how can we, or the insurance, be sure? If a fraudulent rx goes out, and is found out, the rph’s initials are on that bottle, and they WILL be getting a phone call, along with a complimentary appointment with the State Board of Pharmacy, possibly to have their license revoked. Like getting fired, except worse, because you can’t just be a pharmacist somewhere else.
for john: wtf do you mean “have no insight into what is going on?” How ignorant can you be? Do you think pharmacists are just grunts who are paid to hand you drugs? How can they practice “professional skepticism,” which is their job, if they “have no insight?” Maybe you should read up on what a Pharmacist actually does and what schooling is required to even be a registered pharmacist.
Furthermore, if your pharmacist doesn’t know what’s going on with your health, that is YOUR fault, and could be a fatal mistake on your part. The pharmacist is not stupid. If you explain your situation, any pharmacist knows it is not only right, but it is their duty to make sure you get the therapy you need. That is why they will call YOUR insurance plan to get an override, get it paid for, and get you on your way. You may not have the luxury of traveling freely and thus having your prescriptions filled 5 or more days early. But we are not the ones to talk to about that. you need to talk to your BCs (benefit coordinators) about that. Speaking of that, how many patients do you think just accept the fact that since it is rejected by a third party (insurance), that it is “out of our hands?” Some of my worst days at work have been caused by this very problem, and im sure many others (if not the entire pharmacy community) can relate. Pharmacists are health care professionals as well.
I sympathize with chronic pain patients, i really do, and i do everything in my power to make sure they get the medication they need. But alas, I’m only a tech, so i can only do so much. So you shouldn’t be so quick to insult and belittle your most accessible health professional. They will help you, you just have to be willing to help yourself.
If you look like a junkie, act like a junkie, talk like a junkie, and (God forbid) smell like a junkie, then common sense would dictate that in fact yes, you are a junkie.
And one last note, since i ramble……….
Telling us to $%&# off is not going to help your situation, in a pharmacy or anywhere else for that matter.

To the pharmacists who use this forum to let off professional steam because they are often pawns in the game of addiction, I understand your plight and hope you find comfort and empathy in colleague stories.
To those that make light of, make fun of and derive a cruel pleasure of making fun of people with addictions, you should sign your posts with your REAL NAMES so your certification boards, licensing states AND your patients can decide if you have crossed the legal line.
We know you’ve crossed the ethical one.

Ok and don’t forget to leave your name/profession and well see what we can find about you. I have worked with some selfish self absorbed pharmacists and been threatened and stalked by my patients in the course of doing my job and doing it well. Don’t be an asshole and we won’t treat you like one.

I appreciate this forum greatly. I am a chronic pain patient as well. I have at times taken more than the prescribed dose, that is because the Dr has given me permission to do so. When i have needed to do this i have ALWAYS let the DR know, (She asks that i fax her information for my file)I have always been honest with my Dr and my Pharmacist. I have always made sure i use only ONE pharmacy and i ask my Dr and Pharmacist to speak with each other on a regular basis so that there is never any doubt as to the legit nature of my situation. To date i have had no problems, if i am going away on vacation or a business trip, i plan in advance and let the pharmacy know and the DR know as well. again, everyone is in the loop and everyone is happy. By the way, i take a large quantity of pain meds, have for the past 12 years. My tolerance has maxed out at a certain level and i have not raised dosage in a year, I also change meds every six months or so to allow the specific receptors to “cool off” and then i take a smaller dose of another medication. All seems so simple huh……But i will tell you this. it only works because i have a Pharmacist who trust me, a Dr who trusts me and i have not violated that trust, same applies to marriage, life, business….if you are honest and up front. things are usually alright. Thanks for listening
Ciao

There are those who start pain meds, with a legit need for pain control,who end up being drug addicted! It is an unfortunate outcome of narcotic use, that those who choose to medicate will become dependant over time. The problem the pharmacist faces, is that they have to negotiate/deal with customers who, by drug dependance, have an altered personality. The medication often makes the addict unreasonable,obsessive, abusive and beligerant! It becomes hard for me,to be compassionate to customers who don’t respect themselves or others. The frequency of customer interaction gone bad makes me bitter.
I consider myself a compassionate individual, but years of abuse by druggies has sucked all compassion out of me! But I still try…

I have never been an addict or a chronic pain patient but some of your views are pitiful. I have been working as a nurse for 20 years and saw first hand Dr’s prescribing pain meds unnecessarily. The unsuspecting people who later became addicted had no idea what they were getting into. That little label on the bottle ‘may be habit forming’ is bull. Opiates ARE habit forming. The Dr’s give no warning. If you take an opiate as prescribed, say three a day, for several months you WILL have withdrawal. Dr’s don’t seem to want to tell people exactly how habit forming opiates are.
Then I see people here that are crying about Suboxone. Methadone works for some but is too dangerous and causes more problems than good. Suboxone is a drug that they can’t shoot, has less OD rates and has an ingredient that will make a person sick if they use an opiate. Much like Anabuse for an alcoholic. These are the same docs writing prescriptions for 80mg Oxicontin to people that have a kidney stone or sprained ankle. These dr’s are the ones that should be looked into more often. A lot of you here seems to think the addict somehow chose to be an addict. I do, however, feel no sympathy for the ones that don’t seek help and come in there with fake scripts and lies over and over for years and years. But please at least respect the ones that are trying to do something with their lives.

100% WRONG Nurse Jes which isn’t to unusual… a nurse being wrong. Suboxone doesn’t have an ingredient in it that makes people sick if they use another opiate. It has naltrexone which will precipitate withdrawal if shot up. When taking Suboxone by mouth the naltrexone isn’t absorbed. The buprenorphine in Suboxone has some antagonist activity but can easily be overcome with higher doses of stronger opiates. Suboxone is not Anabuse for opiates. Regular naltrexone is somewhat Anabuse for opiates.

Very well said, so many times we get disrespected from not only patients but other health care “professionals.” There are many good nurses out there, but all too often nurses have an attitude with us like they know how to do our job better than us…. please. When I go to a drs office I don’t point out how flawed the nurse’s technique is when taking a simple blood pressure. So please quit acting like we’re not on the front line, often dealing with the difficult patient who many times doesn’t make it to your office or hospital because of the professional advice that we offer.

You are the one wrong you incompetent, ignorant, fraud and blatant ass!!!!! Suboxone binds tightly to the receptors in the brain, more so than the other narcotics. If you take Suboxone while already on another narcotic, you can go into severe withdrawals. The Suboxone will immediately kick the methadone, oxycontin, or hydrocodone off the receptor and cause immediate withdrawal. This is why u have to have a patient actually in withdrawal before u can start the Suboxone. And the addition of the NALOXONE (not as you so ignorantly stated NALTREXONE) will only precipitate withdrawl if suboxone is parenterally injected in someone who is physically dependant with a full opiate agonist. Used alone and due to suboxones powerfull mu opiod receptor bonds the naloxone can’t compete at those receptor sites. This is why suboxone is still singularly abused regularly I.V. in individuals. So folks if I had to trust this kook of a pharmaNUT or the nurse, I can tell you she knows tenfold the knowledge of Feeduppharmacist or ass I would classify him as a 3rd world monkeys ass. And that goes for any ninny who agrees with him. What a bunch of morons disguised as professionals….get a clue a give up your know at all rants until you find a subject you know well, possibly starting with how naltrexone in not even an ingredient in suboxone you fool/ So folks if I had to trust this kook of a pharmaNUT or the nurse, I can tell you she knows tenfold the knowledge of Feeduppharmacist or ass I would classify him as a 3rd world monkeys ass. And that goes for any ninny who agrees with him. What a bunch of morons disguised as professionals….get a clue a give up your know at all rants until you find a subject you know well, possibly starting with how naltrexone in not even an ingredient in suboxone you fool

It’s nolaxone not naltrexone. Naltrexone is Vivitrol which I’ve seen work equally well for alcoholics and opiate addicts. And nolaxone does more than make you sick if you try to shoot it. It is an opiate inhibitor so it will block you from getting any kind of buzz or euphoria from pretty much any kind of “dope”(oxy’s, Vike’s, actual heroin). Having been a Suboxone patient for the past year I can tell you that my curious nature got the better of me and I put it to the test immediately. ONE strip was able to block the effects of one 80mg oxy and that was after not having had an oxy for about a month due to being in a rehab facility, which means my tolerance had gone back down significantly. The next day I was able to put some about 4 high count bags of some VERY GOOD heroin up my nose(stupid I know, but as I said, I’m curious) to ZERO EFFECT. Suboxone saved my life. It takes away my cravings and my feelings of obsession with getting back that euphoric feeling. I’m back to what I was before my addiction since I can now focus on the root causes of my addiction without having to be constantly fighting cravings and obsessive thoughts of wanting to get high.

And to the tech that said “The medication often makes the addict unreasonable,obsessive, abusive and beligerant!”

How are you so sure that it’s the meds making said patient act that way? Perhaps it’s the fact that they’ve built up a tolerance to something they were PRESCRIBED and are now suffering withdrawal symptoms which you just partially described. Not only is your suspicion and condescending attitude not helping anything – said patient now sees YOU as the MAIN obstacle in his way towards getting some kind of relief. BOTH sides need to understand each other and for that, as someone mentioned earlier, there needs to be TOTAL honesty and trust between doctor, pharmacist and patient. Awesome blog btw.

Oh, guys please stop using words like junkie. It’s funny how most of you guys on here trying to convince yourselves that you aren’t addicted to your pain meds – you’re just “dependent” on it for pain and you’ve built up a tolerance – to the point where if you stop, you’ll have severe withdrawal – sounds like an addict to me. EVERY addict becomes an addict, to whichever drug they are addicted to, because they were trying to kill SOME type of terrible pain – physical or mental. If there is ANY difference between your average “junkie” and average addict, it’s this – the junkie isn’t afraid or has lost all his inhibitions about “hitting the street” with money in pocket (or otherwise) to go “score” or “get his/her fix”, the addict is usually a “square” average citizen who can’t or refuses to see past the legal way of doing things through a Dr., a prescription and a pharmacy(while bending some rules along the way or asking you guys to lol). Thanks for hearing me out.

I think this site is so sad. I am a chronic pain patient I have been to the different pharmacys who do not carry certain meds so thay fill one and you have to go to another place to fill another and when you do they llok at each other and you with a knowing look, next thing you know your doctor gets a letter from your medical saying your are using different pharmacies and sure sometimes we have early requests we are in pain constant agony why do you expect us to hold that extra pill in our pocketbook for 24 hours while we are hurting. because we are told so if we take a extra one when we need it which can be often because most people in chronic pain are undertreated the doctors are constantly tilterating the dose so meanwhile we are the ones hurting looking for ways to find relief. we have enough to deal with the doctors, dea the last thing we need is a pharmasist with a God complex don’t judge me you do not walk in my shoes and be glad you hopefully will never have to..Rita

In the fall of 2003, I had a head on collision with a semi and sustained life threatening injuries – injuries that would leave me with chronic pain. I was referred to a pain management clinic at a local (and very well-known) teaching hospital; a place where interns doing their anesthesiology rotations would write patient prescriptions. These rx’s were always on pads with the clinic information on the top, complete with fax number, phone number, address…all the whistles and bells. I never, ever asked to fill early, I never pitched a fit in the store, and when my meds were changed I took what ‘old’ meds I had in my posession to the pharmacy and asked them to dispose of them for me. I always, always used the same pharmacy and did so somewhat uneventfully for over a year and a half. Then a new pharmacist and a new tech took over, and things changed. Suddenly I was treated like a drug-seeking junkie. The pharmacy tech treated me so badly one day that I asked to speak to the pharmacist, and when he sauntered over he made a HUGE deal out of the fact that a different physician had signed my prescriptions for the past 2 months. It didn’t matter that the rx is question was for gabapentin and NOT a narc, it didn’t matter that the prescription was from the same clinic and HAD been from the same clinic for the past 18 months, and it also didn’t matter that I religiously used the same pharmacy for ALL my meds, not just those from the pain management clinic….oh no, those were just insignificant details to this jackass. He loudly berated me in front of his staff and other customers and treated me like I was a drug-seeking-doctor-shopping-junkie instead of a patient or a human being. I left the store in tears and called my pain management clinic to tell them what he had done. The nurse I spoke to was furious, made arrangements for me fill the prescription at another pharmacy and then proceeded to call the pharmacy I’d just left, hooking me into the three-way conversation. The pharmacist told her that I had gone in looking ‘strung out’, that I ‘reeked of alcohol’ and that I ‘threw a tantrum’ when he questioned my gabapentin rx. When the lies starting flowing like wine I walked back into the store, still on my cell phone, listening to the conversation. I walked up to the drop off window that was next to where he was standing and told him I didn’t appreciate him lying about me. I truly wish I had a camera on me, because the look on his face was priceless.
I guess the point to my very long story is that just as not every pharmacist is a lying arsehole, so not every patient with a prescription for narcotics is a junkie. I don’t take narcotics anymore, btw. I had a revision surgery and some radio-frequency nerve ablation procedures and am now pain-free and working as a paramedic. I see my fair share of junkies and drug-seekers, but I will never, ever treat them the way that pharmacist and his tech treated me.

Your experiences remind me of a lot of mine. I’ve had so many problems with so many pharmacists.
I had to have a lower lumbar fusion with hardware in 2011 BC of a car accident. It was either the surgery on my back or a wheelchair in a few months. I chose the surgery and everyday wish I hadnt. I also have Lupus and stage 3 hidradenitis suppurativa, resulting in 7 failed skin and tissue removal surgeries.
I am in more pain now than I was before back surgery. I have been in pain management 6 years on now, 40mg of methadone, 40 mg of oxycodone, antiinflammatory, and stomach medicine. I have used CVS since day 1.
However, no matter how long I’ve used them there are a few pharmacists who love to play doctor.
There’s one pharmacist that will out right refuse to fill my methadone and oxycodone until day 32!!! I have several times told him it was day 30 and he will tell me I am wrong, that I am 2 days early because there were 31 days last month. He knows he’s wrong but has used this bs on so many who believe it that he will stick with it even when I open up the calander and counted the days in front of him.
I’ve been told ‘oh we are out’ while inside CVS only to go through the drive thru 5 minutes later where I have a different tech and the pharmacists did not see it was me and fill it because when he looked at me while i was inside, my pain clearly showing, as I was pale, shaking and moving my left leg up and down as I lose feeling in it often….he thought I ‘looked like’ an addict. The same pharmacist has at times filled without a second look on times I’ve had a good low pain day and came in looking nice with makeup, hair nice. He has no clue how badly he treated me the month before because he does not care to get to know his customers or our names. What’s the worst is when Pharmacists say these things and are wrong, but say it so that everyone in the pharmacy area can hear every word. Its like they try hard to make people look bad.
When you go out of your way to purposely hurt people, you are no longer a pharmacist… You are just a narcissistic ass! There are 2 types of pharmacists…#1 who became one because they really truely want to help others and #2 narcissists who became one because they wanted to be a doctor but either flunked out of med school or was too lazy too go to med school.
I have never in 6 years asked for early fills for vacations, had my medicine stolen or misplaced. If I can do my part as a good person and my doctor can do his job, then I expect a pharmacist to do their job without judgment, with professionalism and a bit of kindness. You never know who you are destroying…because until you get to know us as people, we cannot learn to know you as people.

I knew this is how pharmacists and some doctors talk about patients in pain. My brother-in-law is a doctor and he makes fun of people. I was also in car crash and had a few ruptured discs. Had surgery couple times. I was given pain meds in my early 20’s. No one told me they were addictive. I had never been on meds before for anything really. This was before all the news about controlled substances. I thought they were just like antibiotics. So, I probably am addicted to them now. However, they work and give me some kind of quality of life. Why should we feel so guilty for taking them?
I couldn’t tell you the number of times I’ve had pharmacist give me a good talking to…in front of other customers which is a violation of HIPPA laws. They think because I was so young that there’s no way I should need them. I had several who would make me wait past 30 days…when the prescription was totally out. The DEA rules say controlled substances can be filled 3 days early. On principle, I started making them fill mine 3 days early even though I had been waiting till just 1 day before they ran out…again, they would often make me wait till 31st day when totally out.
I actually had this one pharmacist who sounded right out of college call me at home. He told me they were going to ruin my liver and that I should take Tylenol. I told him it is the Tylenol in drugs like Vicodin and Lorcet that could be dangerous. I told him he didn’t have any credibility for telling me to switch to plain Tylenol. He even called my doctor demanding I be put on plain Tylenol. My doctor told him to do his job and he’ll do his.
I finally got a friendly pharmacy that was sympathetic to pain patients and tried not to judge and would go by the rules. They told me I could get them filled every 4th Friday (so happened to be the day they were first filled). Well, a new pharmacist came in and said because February is short month, I would have to wait 2 extra days. I got them filled Friday, Feb 8th. They were due nex time Friday, March 7th. This new person was saying that was still too early. I said Friday in Feb to that Friday in March was 28 days….short month didn’t change that fact. It just changed the number of the day. If you count up days, it is still the same number. However, you debate these things and you are called “difficult” and “addict”. I’m sick of it.
They all need education on pain meds. If they are going to prescribe, then doctors need to know that your body will need more over time. This is just a fact of the drug. By the way, don’t tell me pharmacists don’t short pills. I count mine always and I’ve been shorted at least 10 times. I didn’t say anything because I was afraid I would be called liar. I’m not sure if just mistake or pharmacist or tech is taking some for themselves. Just look on web for states pharm board. There are always cases of pharmacists taking drugs. I did get like 10 pills extra one time and I returned. I don’t think that helped me though.

Of course, there’s probably an argument to be made here that humans ought to have the ability to direct their own destinies, decide what to put into their bodies, and so on. This happens every day at liquor stores across the country and world.
No issue here last time I checked and I’m confident a bottle Jack can do more damage in under thirty minutes than most of the stuff you hand out as if you were Christ.
You’re not. Get over it.

I would just like to appoligize for treating you with such DisHonesty and BullShit, Yeah,its an addicton ,plain and clear.I sure do wish there was a simpler, more cost efficent way to get thru the withdrawal and terrible discommfort that comes with running out.Please try to have some compassion and Kindness,and,(love) for those like myself that have gotten int this Hell, okay? than Tea with me? john : )

You know, I can’t always make it to the pharmacy on day 30 (or actually day 31 for most of you douchebag pharms). I have shit going on you know? Work, kids, etc. So, quit being a bitch just because I want my tramadol 2 days early.

Now look here…I have an extremely chronic illiness that I will always have and I am in terrible pain every single day..my dr. only gives me so many pain pills a month, even though I could use twice the amount..It is not my fault my dr is an idiot, It is not my fault my insurance won’t pay for another dr to treat my condition until I break complete ties with this quack for 30 days, which means going WITHOUT my pain meds for that long. It is not my fault I can’t work, and it is not my fault I can barely get out of bed in the morning to take care of my kid..I understand there are some people getting nacotics when they don’t really need them, and acting stupid with them. but, you should not treat everyone like shit that needs there pills early some months… some of us are in EXTREME PAIN, and have IDIOTS for dr in which we in some cases are STUCK for now… GIVE US A BREAK! We are the ones in pain, not your stupid, burnt out ass….Maybe you should get more training on bedside manner and weeding out the drug addicts instead of treating everyone like shit,, Maybe you should break every bone in your body and your dr only give you 15 vocodin a month and see how you would change your mind..I am sure you would wait patiently for the whole 30 days, huhL.. you are a moron!, COME ON!

And, by the way, I have to get 6 of my meds filled at one pharmacy, my narcotic filled at another {because no pharmacy in my area carries it} and one of my muscle relaxers filled 20 miles the other direction because that is the ONLY pharmacy that carries that med…… what the hell is up? if they want all your drugs filled at one pharmacy, than the dr and pharmacies need to get together…I really don’t think that helps my pliet with my pain meds…but, as I said my dr is stupid! I know my dr and pharmacy think I’m a junkie just because of that!

How sad and unfortunate that some of you pharmacists feel so self-righteous and superior to others. You should be deeply ashamed of yourselves. This site was a real eye opener. Frankly I’m shocked. It’s obvious that sensitivity training is severely needed for both pharmacists and techs.

Addiction is not a moral failing. It is an illness, and it can happen to anyone.

You are health care workers. If you wanted to be prosecutors you should have studied law. I am really dissapointed and upset by what I’ve seen here.

And it just isn’t about addicts either, the disparaging comments made about suspected or confirmed welfare recipients are also appalling.

This all amounts to a despicable bigotry, and I think we need to know just how pervasive this problem is. I think a copy of this page needs to be circulated to pharmacy boards in every state. I hope they take some type of corrective action.

It probably wouldn’t hurt for the media to see this as well. People should be warned that if they are placed on narcotics by their physician that they may well face discrimination from those who are supposed to be good faith partners in the interdisciplinary team.

Most of the pharmacists and pharm-techs here confirm the point:
That they are ASSHOLES.
That any of these so-called medical professionals still have their licenses is a travesty.
No respect, no compassion.
Quit talking about your clients and CUSTOMERS like we are vermin.
WE ARE THE PEOPLE YOU DEPEND ON FOR YOUR LIVELIHOOD.
After being married for over 30 years, raising a family, devoting my life to educating children and helping elders learn to cope with deteriorating health and other late life-challenges, I just LOVE being looked suspiciously and treated like I’m a lower life-form by some self-righteous zealot in a polyeaster barber’s smock because I need his “permission” to obtain medication that is freely available, over-the-counter, in most Western European nations.
Snap-out-of-it, your sound a bunch of couldn’t-quite-get-through-med-school jerks.

Oh James…if only you knew how we were treated…I’m sorry you can’t see that this is a place for people of a like profession to come together and share a little banter about the system and it’s downfalls, including you, the patient. Of course there are the idiots out there, hell, sounds like you have devoted a life to helping those idiots get a better grasp on things. You don’t see us on the Angry Educator/Devoted Caregiver site calling you out. We look at you suspiciously because because the 86 customers/patients before you give us something to be suspicious about. RX drug abuse is steadily on the rise and not to mention, there go your tax dollars for the afore mentioned MA/government-state assisted clients who come in for their narcs & god knows what else that half the time they don’t even need. If all meds were intended to be used recreationally & without monitoring, they would all be over the counter and you could all just kill yourselves. For instance, Plan B, while a worthy method of emergency contraception now available without a RX, anyone with a valid drivers license (male or female) over 18 can but it whenever they want (at least in MN). Women are now using as the ONLY form of birth control and it can do serious damage to their health when used like that. That is just 1 small example of things to come if you get rid of couldn’t-quite-get-through-med-school jerks.
In closing I would like to add that the majority of Pharmacist programs
now are a PhD. So unless you have a PhD in education or changing diapers, I think you ought to give the pharmacists (and techs) a rest & let them enjoy their website intended just for fun and OBVIOUSLY not an example of actual practices.

Obviously, I have not been here in a long, long time and never saw your response to my rant.
A site for “…sharing a little banter…”?
Maybe.
“…intended just for fun and OBVIOUSLY not an example of actual practices…,”?
B.S.
Most of the posts on this site from pharmacists and techs are stories about encounters with their clients and DO INDEED describe actual practices.
There is no Angry Educator/Devoted Caregiver site (that I know of); but if there were, I am quite sure that any clients we maligned would climb on board and rag us back! While I may not agree with such imagined criticism, I would never ask them to back-off and let me malign them in peace in order for me to “share a little banter” with my pals.
I have a MA in Education and a MBA in Sustainable Enterprise; neither of which affects my right to criticize the level of discourse here one whit. Neither does your PhD exempt you (or anyone else) from my criticism.
If you just want to blow off steam with your fellows by making fun of sick people without getting called on it, you should do it in private. Post ANYTHING on the internet and you open yourself up people like me and many others who are appalled by some of the things we have read here.

DM-I’m sure that like anyone else who has a job, not every day and not every customer will be pleasant. One line of your post jumped out at me, “”there go your tax dollars for the afore mentioned MA/government-state assisted clients who come in for their narcs & god knows what else else that half the time they don’t even need.” Just a couple of questions for you, DM. First, not everyone who receives government assistance is a bum. There are plenty of people, due to the economy or whatever reasons, just need some help. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Second, how do you know “they don’t even need” what they’re coming to the pharmacy FOR? You are not a physician, so how would you know? Seems to me that your degree came with a side of elite snobbery to boot. You are not the god you make yourself out to be. Far from it. Why don’t you try being a lot less judgmental and a whole lot more caring. You know, your fellow man and all that 😉

My favorite is the ones who bring in a florida prescription with a north carolina license, or a new york prescription with a missouri license and I explain “I will need to call and verify the Dr’s DEA and information” what? what? you can’t fill it? what? what are you talking about? i just want my medicine? im in a lot of pain? its just 200 hydromorphone, its a legitimate prescription….then you call the dr and he says oh yeah he was supposed to see me last week/today/etc….I continue to explain to the patient that its the law that i call and verify CII scripts. what is so hard about that, a 2 minute phone call, what is the deal with these people? you go to a dr in florida and live here? why didn’t you get it filled there? i hope these people wake up….realize im not out to get them, just do my job….i want to comply with the law, not be a drug enforcement agent….lol

what about dickhead pharmacist that short change me for 9 perts now he saying he got to go back and recount and its gonna take him over a week but when its my other medicine that miss counted he goes head and give it to me right away. my heart medicine had more gone then my pain medicine. why dont you write
about drugout pharmacists butthead!thank god i have a doctor that trust me and wrote me anotherrx for something else.
i think they need to drug screen pharmacists and people on welfare too .yeah i dont like paying for people on welfare medicine either but you dont here me bitching about it.

I’m ashamed of myself. I was in a car accident last year and sustained some heavy injuries. I am currently recovering from surgery #3 and have been taking Lortab 10/500 for about 15 months now. Reading through some of the pharmacist’s posts I see myself, ex. early refill for vacations that “never were,” lost or stolen meds, etc. I’ve known in my heart for a long time now that I have a problem, but I’m too afraid of the withdrawal symptoms that are bound to hit me upon stopping. I can honestly say that I have never reacted ugly towards one of my pharmacists though. Anytime that I’ve mistakenly calculated the wrong refill date(lord knows I usually run out way ahead of time) and called too early, I’ve been so embarrassed that I just hung up the phone. The looks from the pharmacists are the worst but only because I know I’m addicted and they know it as well. I need help but where do I go?

Call the Narcotics Anonymous hotline (hopefully there is one) in your area), or Google Narcotics Anonymous and get to a meeting.
NA has helped literally millions of drug addicts learn to live without abusing drugs since 1953.
Good Luck.

I work at s mid-sized grocery store (chain) pharmacy in a town of about 10 thousand people in the Northeast. I have a fucked-up back. BIG time. Congenital. Surgery twice — no improvement. Physical therapy – MINOR improvement, but I still go twice weekly. So, my pain management Dr. has SLOWLY titrated me up to Oxycontin 80mg TID and oxycodone-IR 15mg 5x/day (routine, NOT prn). Do you think there’s a time that my back’s not so fired up that I take an extra tablet? And then, as a consequence, at the end of the month, I go without? Yes, damn right, there IS. I’m dependent – OF COURSE I am dependent! I guess what I’m saying is: are you a patient in withdrawal? TALK TO ONE OF US! We’re trained in the pharmacology and chemistry of opiates. We know what happens when the body isn’t receiving the amount it’s used to. We can help you with strategies to avoid these situations, and manage them. Don’t be confrontational. Don’t lie. Just say “Do you have a minute? I need to talk to you about a few issues I’m having w/ my medication.” 99.5% of us will jump at the chance. Believe me, we’re bored as hell billing claims through the computer/dealing with prior auths/throwing labels on bottles. I would so much rather talk to a fellow pain sufferer than work on administrative tasks. Not just pain. GERD. Insomnia. Anxiety. Asthma. Migraine. Shit, we’re trained in this stuff. Obviously, we can’t diagnose like an MD/DO, but we know the treatments for these conditions inside and out!

Your pharmacist is too “stand-offish”? Doesn’t have the time? FUCK him/her! Find a new one! Check out a grocery store, an independent, a mass merchandiser, a small regional chain. There’s more to the world than CVS/RiteAid/Walgreens! My God, if you can’t find an RPh to talk to, message ME! I’LL do it!

As with every service-centric profession, there are two sides to every story. I live with chronic pain and have a pharmacist who quite clearly judged me based on my prescription and appearance. You see, I would always venture in to the pharmacy on a weekend after a morning workout, “decked out” in sweatpants, a sleeveless tee and my signature blue bandana. I’ve also been told many a time that I look young for my age. Anyway, the “gentleman” would always begrudgingly fill my prescriptions, barely saying two words to me with a look of disgust. One day, he thought it appropriate to comment that I didn’t understand what these medications were doing to my body and that my doctor should not be prescribing me narcotics.

I thanked him for the advice and went on to explain to him that my PhD in chemistry from MIT was quite enough for me to “understand” how these compounds were “affecting” me. To this day I wish I had a video camera to capture the nervous smile and laugh that escaped his lips. He says, “Wow, congratulations, that’s quite an accomplishment. I had no idea.”

Clearly. Now when I go to get my prescriptions filled he is just a ray of sunshine.

Not all pharmacists are douche bags, and obviously I should not be treated any differently than a legitimate chronic pain patient simply because of my education. Lesson: never judge a book…you get the idea.

I get Oxycodone 15mg prescribed every month. When I started going to this pain Management place I was taking 30mg. I explained the situation to my current doctor. I actually give my meds to my wife to hold. My doc knows this as well. He said “Good idea” So they both know Im not abusing them. He said when I started to not call him when I was out of meds. If I needed to take more than prescribed call ahead of time. NOT WHEN I WAS OUT. I kinda assumed he knew after taking 30mgs the 15’s wouldnt work as well, and expected it to happen. So I called about a week ago, and told them what was up. I had an appt yesterday. They said just wait til then and talk to them.Ofcourse he wasnt there and I saw the practitioner. I told her what was happening, and she gave me the script. After I got to the pharmacy I noticed it said “Do not refill until the 13th” Thats 5 days. Ive never been early before, and I called them and no doctors were in the office they said. You have me scared to call them again. What should I do to prevent looking like a drug addict ? Thats the last thing I want.

People…Take a minute to stand at another point of reference. The pharmacists aren’t wrong. The real chronic pain patients aren’t wrong. Pharmacist give you the weird looks because they do give a rat’s ass about ethics and improving human health. In a time of differences, it is important to find a common enemy. In this very case, pharmacists and legit customers should be mad at bad people, not at each other. I can honestly say both parties need a little more respect for each other.

I answered, “I want to be a pharmacist because…”
-I really do care about people and their outcomes.
-I want to help people and this is the way I choose to help.
-No one would know drugs better than I do, other than a more experienced pharmacist 🙂
-I want to take away the pain and suffering of “true” customers

Their reply, “why would you want to have a job that can offer you no appreciation from patients, but rather, be cursed at by ignorant and unreasonable people who think they know more than you?”

My answer back, “They can fight with me all they want, but I won’t be fighting with them. I’d be fighting against drug abuse and for better health.”

In my opinion, a jaded pharmacist is better than a incompetent one. I want to thank my pharmacist for fighting with me when he feels something is wrong. Anyone who doesn’t appreciate these professionals are in denial and didn’t learn how to be grateful of what others do for them.

You pharmacists can be real jerk offs. Not all of you, but it’s a pretty wide spread phenomenon. Not everybody who asks to have a pain med filled a little early because they’re going on vacation or whatever is lying. Things do happen. If someone makes a habit about wanting a pain med filled significantly early, okay, that would understandably raise some eyebrows. Myself, I use tramadol. It’s not a narcotic or even a controlled substance (at least not in my state). Only one time have I asked to have it filled significantly early, and that was due to having left ALL of my meds in my fathers house in Florida. That included levothyroxine and zoloft as well as the tramadol. The other times I asked to have them filled before I was completely out were a matter of days, not weeks. I live twenty miles away from my pharmacy and only go into town three or four times a month. So yeah, if I’m headed to town to do some other business and I realize I’m about a week away from needing my meds refilled, I’ll ask for that to be done so that I don’t have to make an extra trip later. That doesn’t make me and addict or abuser. It means I have common sense. Some of you pharmacists need to get off your high horse and quit acting like everyone who takes a pain med is a liar or addict. Your condecension and paranoia is quite off putting. Perhaps you’d be better off working at McDonalds, but then you’d probably lecture people on how bad the food is for them.

See what you don’t realize is that we pharmacists hear that ALL the time. In your case it may have been legitimate, but for the 60 or 70 people before you it wasn’t. How can you fault a person (emphasis PERSON — that’s what we are) for using deductive reasoning based on past experiences. Sorry you’re using the same reason to fill your medications early that literally every addict uses.

Truly, unless you are going on a cruise or leaving the country, wherever you are can call your doctor. I have no issue with showing my cruise tickets. I also have no issue with sharing my reports and giving all my doctors names. I have nothing to hide. On the flip side, just request a call to your doctor if there is an issue. Stand up for yourself

No one is perfect, but we are all made in the image of God and are Gods creation . Im sorry for your frustrations and they are understanable, but you have a choice on how you let it affect you, you can bless them and pray for them and go about your day keeping your peace given from above and reap back blessings, or you can judge and be judged yourself. Those people dont need to be thought of worthless junky liars, but people who havebeen decieved or struggle with addiction and dont want to. Many of those people honestly do suffer from chronic pain from legitimate reasons. Most people have customer service jobs that would give us plenty of reasons to tear people down, ream on every fault we can find in everyone else while forgetting about the huge plank that is in their own eye, just maybe in a different area, such as adultry, porno, smoking being an embittered angry person at people when you dont even know anything about them or what may of happened to make them that way. Sometimes people are in more pain than others and make up a story because they are afraid of someone judging them.
I have suffered and suffered and have migraines daily for two or three weeks at a time and severe back pain….ive had alot of suffering, i use my back medicine daily and my script is for four norco a day 6 hours one at a time, seriously?, I mean really? Ive cried, been honest about the pain, and why ive taken more than prescribed and still last time even though I started to cry and expressed how depressing it is to suffer everyday, and even more so why there is not solid evidence of why im hurting so bad everyday, especially when I work my physical job. So last time he upped it 6 to 8 hrs. It sucks and I pray to b healed soon. I also receive medication for migraines that is usually addiquate but will fill them at a different pharmacy so I can shop while being filled since its handwritten. Although when I get bouts of two or three weeks of almost daily migraines/ headaches once every year or two I cant take it anymore and go to the hospital hoping for mercy to relieve the pain. Whats.sad.is it is so scary to have to tell them if u have taken narcs bcause then you risk being labeled a drug seeker and stilk go home after spending 800 for er, to be treated like a liar. I always try to be as honest as I can, but it really sucks when honesty gets you nowhere and in just as bad or worse shape than before.
Be blessed and have mercy, we all need it:)

To all you dbags pharmacists like the ones here. You need to realize that you are NOT better than the people you serve. If anything, your own words have shone light on just how inferior of a human being you really are. Perhaps deep down you already know it to be true hence your inconsiderate, cruel, judgmental, and bitterness characteristics. People go to see you to fill their meds, that’s it. They are not there to please you or be your friend. They are NOT there to grovel for their meds either. Your vanity have blinded you to the fact that’s it only a job. You do it to get paid so don’t act like it’s charity. Nobody owes you anything so get your big fat heads out of your asses.

Narcs are just plain assholes specially from any cvs store i was getting my script refilled the same 27th day cause i have bad anxiety and sometimes need one in the middle of the night and everything was fine then they just start acccusing me of shit and say i can only fill it on the 30th day cause the head narc wrote something on my info they are all stereotypes. I never abused,sold, anything i lost 10 in one of the holders and that’s it and i shouldn’t be treated like you guys are better then us. Power happy pricks is all you are. I don,t care about your day or the retards that lie for pain meds. Take the power pole out ur ass and get a life 🙂

I agree completely. This idea that everyone on a pain med or some controlled substance must be a dope fiend/liar is off base and uncalled for. And if any pharmacists puts some bullshit on my profile he or she better be able to back it up in a court of law.

I have taken my meds to the pharmacist for him to fill and he called my neurosergion and when he did that he told her what my primary care dr what he was given me. My neuro dr had allready told me to get a primary dr to see me. She knew this. I was not happy about this situation. I did not know they can tell a dr what another dr was doing without your permission. They have been refilling mine at 7 days early. Cause sometimes i cannot get motivated so i take an extra one. Not all the time but on occasions. Know they are making me wait 3 days before after i had asked my insurance agent and she told me they fill them at 7 dayse early. I think I may go somewhere else where they treat you right. they act like i am a drug addict. I am not. Why won’t they give it to me when my insurance company says i can get it? other pharmacist says i can get it when it goes through. I am really pissed off about the people that abuse it. That is why they stop making the ER 40mg. Thanks to all the addicts. I got my pump taking out cause the 40’s were working better than the pain pump and they stop making them. Thank you for answering my question. Can a pharmacist release your meds history to another dr without your concent?

Parmacists and Patients can learn much from honest exchanges, such as this blog entry, and all of the comments. The best ammunition when dealing with anything is knowledge. I am a long term chronic pain patient, with a background in medicine, and the pharmaceutical industry. What I get out of this, is there is much ignorance, on both sides.

For the Patients, I offer this advice, as one of you. Be honest with ALL of your healthcare providers. Be receptive to their input. Most of them are doing their best to provide you with quality care, based on their education, training, and experiences. Coordinate ALL of your care through your Primary Care Physician. He/she is the quaterback, so to speak, of your healthcare team, and this team includes you. Be an active participant in your care, as best you can/if you are able. You will be surprised how being an informed Patient can save you from much of the troubles you see on this page.

To the healthcare workers, including PHARMICISTS, I offer this advice, as one of you. Remember you are part of a healthcare team. Offer compassionate, quality care, and STAY in your scope of medicine. Treat people the way you want to be treated, and DO NO HARM.I cannot believe that educated people, whit PhDs would resort to sounding off on a PUBLIC forum, yet here it is, right in front of me. Lord help us, if this is the state of affairs, in the majority of pharmicies in America. Where is the professionalism? Where are the ethics? If you are uncomfortable posting what you have written here, on the entrance to your office/store, and signing YOUR name to it, you have stepped way out of bounds. You know I am right. Regardless of how you are treated, it is YOU who holds the degree, and it is YOU who should know better!

Ask to fill it 7 days early once or twice a year (like the 4th of July or Christmas) because you I am going on vacation sound OK? Coming in every 23 days telling you I am off on another vacation not good? It the pattern of behavior I just do not ask you to fill it early. I take my C_II RX along with me and get it filled in whatever state I happen to be in on Day 30.

wow,sounds like a lot of people are in the wrong profession. If your that hostile and angry with people and the world then change your job, get some anger management classes, or go to a doctor and get a prescription for yourself that will calm you down. Being a priock or bitch behind a counter because you hate your job is not helpful to anyone. There isnt a job in the world that is all rosy, especially when you deal with the public. The same people that are complaining on this web site about other people that are being rude and lying are doing the same thing right now. If you have that much hatred and anger inside you I would put money that you are the first ones to go into a retail store and want something for nothing or a cheaper price or lie about how the item became broken. Guess what, the rest of us have to deal with YOU. You are no treat.

This blog has made me lose even more respect for the so-called health professionals. I’m very suspicious of a health professional that would write a blog such as this one, displaying absolutely no compassion for people. You should not assume why someone is filling a prescription. You should not stereotype by the way a person looks or dresses. I’m curious as to why it affects your life so much that you need to create an “angry pharmacist” blog. I would hate to have no choice but to visit a pharmacy where the pharmacist judges and ridicules you, has no compassion, writes unnecessary comments on a patient’s file, discusses unnecessary, non medical topics including demeaning a person’s reason for needing narcotics and the way a person dresses when picking up their meds.
As for me, I live with excruciating chronic pain every day. Even narcotics barely minimize my pain. I can hardly walk. It is very difficult to drive to my doctor’s office and pick up a script. There are nice compassionate people that work at my pharmacy. But there are also pharmacists like yourself that barely communicate and have what seems like an attitude. These pharmacists seem to hate their occupation and I always wonder Wth they’re doing there since they seem to hate interacting with and helping people. I never refill my meds early and most the time I fill it late because I cannot drive to my doctor’s office to pick up my script due to my pain. And FYI, I’m not going to dress up in my “sunday’s best” to drive to the pharmacy in hopes that I will be treated and respected as a human being. I will dress in clean, comfortable clothes and if that is unacceptable for you, you will just need to get over it. I will be treated with respect and if I feel mistreated and judged by the pharmacist, I will call you on it AND alert the manager and/or supervisor. I urge others to do the same. My advise to you is to find an occupation where you do not directly deal with human beings. You do not have the compassion, respect or patience for a job in the medical field.

You just don’t understand. Take it from someone is very caring and compassionate. While I agree that TAP may seem overall like a terrible person, you can not truly understand his point of view until you work in a pharmacy. I’ve worked in a CVS pharmacy for 5 years (i’m now in my 3rd year of pharmacy school), and its absolutely terrible. People treat you like garbage, physicians talk to you with a condescending tone (despite the fact that we know more about medications/pharmacotherapy than they’ll ever dream to know – fyi physicians only get 6 weeks of pharmacology in school – the rest they get out of the physicians desk reference and trial and error), and your bosses are always demanding you fill 500 scripts a day while also taking time to face shelves, do the normal pharmacy maintenance work, and counsel patients. Its completely impossible to do all of those things. Moreover, its simply not possible to be so abused every single day and not have a bad attitude about it. I’m personally going into clinical pharmacy, because I think its a much better field. However, don’t hate this guy because he’s been abused by every face of the business until he doesn’t give a fuck anymore. I’m sure he doesn’t hate everyone, its just that you don’t realize that 99% of people that come into a pharmacy are terrible people. Just because someone is sick doesn’t make it okay for them to be a reprehensible human being.

So what Compassionate Pharmacy Student? I work in retail and I am treated like garbage every day too! That doesn’t give me license to act like a bitch to customers, and you and others in pharmacy don’t have an excuse either. If you can’t put up with being treated like garbage, then perhaps find another line of work where you sit in a tiny cubicle with absolutely no human contact. Knock off the excuses. They’re getting very old.

I am really reading alot of people who act as if they are not going to every NEED undertsanding or unjudgemental people in their lives! I have always worked with the public and I heard alot of sob stories and people ttrying to get peblic utilities to get turned on right after one had been cut off the day before! All the time I did not give the person a break but I did not try to go gun-ho on everyone and feel like a QUEEN because I had discovered someone was desparate enough to lie to me to get the services! I understood where they were coming from! Yeah you should be honest but I am not their judge and I don’t feel good in human suffering! My pharmacist made me a little upset today because my prescription for my low-gradde muscle relaxants could be filled tomorrow. But because she had extra time on her hands she said “You got these last filled on Dec. 6th, so you have to wait 30 days. But going back to even out 30 days from when you first started taking thse a year ago, you cab get them on Jan 14th!” Now I am not one of the people who curses out the Pharmacist!!! I kindly said If your’e going by 30 days supply (despite it’s NOT controlled and my ins would pay for it) then that is Jan. 4th! She said she was only obligated to fill it after 30days! I said OK meanwhile I am having more & more Charlie horses by the minute! I don’t understand what was her motivation to go through looking over 12 months and doing the math when it’s not narcotics and they would have went through with my ins! I guess it made her feel special or “John Wayne-ish”! I wish would would ALL have respect for each other!!!!!!!!!!!

Mr Pharmacist, why do you give a shit. You are not a fucking cop… Seriously, don’t do anything that is illegal so you may keep you job and out of jail, but then provide some customer fucking service. why do you care if some asshole is hooked on vicodin or percs? If oyu wanna be a cop then go to cop school. Your not so pass the meds and dont do anything that would cost our job. But if you can do something within the law and provide the customer the service you are getting paid to then shut your fucking whiney ass mouth and give em the meds. Nobody wants to stand there in fromt of the line and explain their medical issues to some asshole you know just thinks you trying to score meds early for a fix.

Compasionate Pharmacy Store, I’d appreciate if you didn’t generalize and say “99% of people are terrible”. Where do you get off calling 99 people out of 100 terrible people? If a physician is talking down to you (which I doubt considering most nurses or other personell are who directly deals with the pharmacy), don’t blame it on people trying to get their scripts filled. If you are already this jaded in this profession, I recommend that you get out as you’re clearly not meant to be in this field. You do NOT have compassion when you are saying 99% of people who come into a pharmacy are terrible.

Compasionate Pharmacy Store, I’d appreciate if you didn’t generalize and say “99% of people are terrible”. Where do you get off calling 99 people out of 100 terrible people? If a physician is talking down to you (which I doubt considering most nurses or other personell are who directly deals with the pharmacy), don’t blame it on people trying to get their scripts filled. If you are already this jaded in this profession, I recommend that you get out as you’re clearly not meant to be in this field. You do NOT have compassion when you are saying 99% of people who come into a pharmacy are terrible!

Wow! Well said.
I had not really considered just how out of bounds it is for EDUCATED HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS to be “sounding off” like this in a public forum.
Imagine if these sort of anecdotes were posted by MDs or by psychiatrists!
Maybe Pharmacists need to be supervised in the same way psychoanalysts are in order to give them a SAFE PLACE to debrief.

OH BOO HOO. Get OVER IT! What about the patients? They too are lied to, ripped off and abused on a daily basis by the health care system, their “doctors”, insurance companies and paranoid pharmacists such as your self. YES, I understand your dislike for the Druggies, but you people are just as annoying when you, and the doctors act suspicious of every little, legitimate request from patients who REALLY are in pain, sick etc. It used to be that people were taken care of. Good doctors, physical therapy, proper meds and so on.

But every year, the price of prescriptions and doctor visits go up to you thieving, spoiled, ungrateful jerks. With an average salary of $122,000.00 Yes, I said ONE HUNDRED TWENTY TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR, a pharmacist has NO room to WHINE and complain! There are people who break their backs for a living, ok? If you or your family gets sick, you will have the top health benefits, and when it comes time to get your prescription, you don’t have to listen suspicious paranoids such as your self. You can also afford the rising cost of medicines. There are many people who only make $35,000 a year or less! They get sick too! You say you’re “nice”, but it sounds more like you’ve got a LIMITED perspective of who deserves to be treated nicely. Most people in your position don’t write childish blogs such as you’ve written.

You say you give people “looks”, without being 100% sure. Meanwhile, kids and some older druggies crush up, snort the needed medicines for kicks! You need several times the dosage to abuse them too! But it’s the patients that get treated like cow dung FIRST at the doctors (sometimes), and then at the pharmacy! If they have a real pain, or damaged discs thanks to some stoned teen who T-boned them in an accident, they get treated like drug addicts for daring to ask for pain medications. And all because of the INABILITY for doctors to cure their problems! I think the healthcare system needs to learn to face up to reality and the fact that they can NOT make most people better! Instead they just write scripts out for most people, most of the time which are guesses. And then when the patient needs them, they treat them like they are the druggies. That said, the over paid, pharmacist should shut his or her stupid mouth when a real customer is in the store.

And you notice people pick up some meds at another pharmacy? OH, Good God, give us a break! You have enough time to waste for that? If you don’t like it, LOWER YOUR PRICES in your store twit! People shop around in this day and age because the meds ARE OVER PRICED! Get it now dip? Yes, I don’t know who you are, but you sound like a dip who does not deserve a job as a pharmacist! Going after druggies is one thing when you’re sure, but sounds like you also give your good, paying customers weird looks while you make assumptions about them. And we customers FEEL AND NOTICE THIS TOO BTW! You also just proved what I suspected all along.

Get this in your head. There are people with serious pain and problems that take these meds regularity. Some of which may be older, sick, depressed etc. So yes, they may continually come to the drive through window and simply pick up their meds. Meanwhile, you are just staring at them thinking your delusional, poorly thought out thoughts at your high paying job that you do not deserve. Basically a job to sit there and day dream most of the day while they pour money into your trunk to take home. You likely had your college paid for by your parents as well. Not that that’s all bad, but point is you sound really, really spoiled by what you complain about. People who have delt with the problems of real life wouldn’t complain if they got to your position.

My sister was hit by some druggie/drunk hit and run, and she had permanent damage to her spine. After most things healed, they could not understand why her pain doesn’t go away. She’s gotten better, but she needs continual SOMA to stop muscle spasms, something else, and occasionally a small dose of oxycodone to stop the pain so she can sleep. She only takes like 5mg pills. Yet some dope heads like to take 80mg and snort them up their nose for fun. Well guess what? She is treated suspiciously by LOSER pharmacists like you every now and then. YES, with her pain and misfortune, she also has to put up with that kind of treatment. So pharmacists think, “Gee, she keeps getting these, not good”? Well, maybe when the doctors can find and fix the problem she will quit needing them! My mother also has spine problems and needs meds as well. She does have one pretty good doctor that often has to apologize to her that she has to go through all this mess just to get the obvious meds she needs. She used to be able to get a 2 or 3 month prescription. Now just for carisiprodol, my sister and mom have to go to the doc every month! Even though the doctor does NOTHING to make it better, because he can’t! But he’s glad to pocket the extra money. MY families money that they worked for!

You pretend like you are all for the person with chronic pain, but in reality you probably wouldn’t know them if they fell on your head. Why? Because you judge people without knowing the full story. You don’t know who has chronic pain and who doesn’t in that store, so don’t feed us all that line of BULL, ok? How could you? Unless you happen to know Mrs. Jones who’s been there for years. But there are others and you are obviously suspicious of them. Not very fair. Finally your “cute” little remark about how people are too dumb to divide 90 by 3, proved for me once and for all that you SHOULD NOT BE working as a pharmacist. Especially considering it’s YOU pharmacists who do DUMB things like giving me someone’s HEART MEDS instead of my allergy meds! Or counting out the WRONG quantity! OR mis-charging, mysteriously it’s always over charging. You also likely tend to notice it more when it’s over a narcotic, but don’t notice customers errors when it’s something else. Then when a sick patient makes a mistake, or forgets their prescription was for 3 months (not two), they are suddenly “retards”, but when YOU the big, important pharmacist makes an error that could KILL someone, it’s no big deal right? And don’t pretend you are 100% error and mistake free. Overly paranoid pharmacists should all be fired and given jobs at a burger joint so they can appreciate what they have. Grow up!

That said, count your self lucky you don’t have any major illness that causes you sickness and pain where you need meds.

Your blog has proven that my instincts about pharmacists are correct. Something about your intellect or character prohibited you from the big medicine show, so you became petty bureaucrats at the bottom of the food chain and satisfy your judgemental and uninformed egos by becoming self-appointed policemen. There have been a few pharmacists in my long and literally painful, agonized medical history who seemed to care about helping. But most, like you, see fit to scowl at, condemn, and make medical decisions for people you know nothing about.

Suffice it to say I’ve suffered a great deal of physical pain. Pharmacists like you–capricious, unregulated, judgemental–see patients in a retail setting, not in a situation where you’d even begin to be able to understand the patients situation. It seems as though pharmacy school teaches you how to deny legitimate, physician ordered treatment, but never to empathize or even work with the patient. You see us as irritating retail customers, anyway, not as patients t all, and that attitude leads us to treat you as clerks. Clerks with a lot of power, which you often exercise in the cruelest way, but yeah, clerks.

Your fundamental misconception is tat it’s easy as abc to get into a pain practice and find and maintain an appropriate level with your doc. Pain practices are heavily policed and I am required to undergo drug tests despite being in the practice for years nd never upping meds or exhibiting drug seeking behavior. Yet despite coming to the same pharmacy with the same scrip from the same practice for years, I still get shit. Suddenly it’s not available or I’m given an attitude or made to wait longer than others. Your blog exposes this prejudice against patients or the world to see.

It’s a noble calling, I suppose, this pill counting, though I can count on the fingers of one hand the times a pharmacist has suggested anything helpful to me or asked me even what my condition might be. Perhaps you aren’t allowed to do so, but if that’s te case, leave the diagnosis of other peoples problems to the professionals.

Unfortunately the “I’m a chronic pain sufferer” excuse for being a crappy patient doesn’t really fly with me cause guess what… so am I AND I WORK in the pharmacy. So quit whining and put on your big girl panties… and deal with the hassle that comes with pain management!!!!

I am a pharmacist from Canada, just want to let you know that we do not have Vicodin up here .

Over the years as a pharmacist I have had to deal with forgeries and robberies for opiates. Was robbed 2 years ago by an addict who had a gun.
Anyways, had to make two arrests based on forgeries. The forger got kicked out of the doctor’s clinic. A bystander saw what happened and tried to warn me…had to call the police to arrest him. I was fairly young , inexperienced pharmacist and if it weren’t for the bystander, I would not have known and filled the rx.

Over time I gained experience over the years and have seen pretty much what the angry pharmacist is talking about. …the addicts. There is a huge difference between a lying person and one who is in chronic pain user. chronic users do not come in on Friday nights when doctor’ offices are closed and they do not come around closing time…..and they are not usually from a different city….And they do not make weird lies like, my cat ate it.

Then there is the regular legitimate user who keeps filling it one to two days early….the dr put an interval and specifically asked us to dispense every seventh day. He keeps pushing us to do one day early…you see the frustration? Law states we have to uphold doctor’s intervals….by law we cannot dispense earlier. If the patient does not agree, they need to speak with the dr to straighten it out. People just don’t get it. We cannot break the law.

Also we are responsible to the police, government and doctor if someone is forging, abusing medicines.
I totally understand TAP ‘s rant.Not an easy job…

There even was a forgery on a hospital prescription pad, the addict stole the pad from the hospital and
forged the doctor’s signature. I contacted the dr, he said he didn’t write it. I had to contact the police and describe the person who faked it.

Anyways this is what my job has been like. It sounds to me that the United States is worse judging from the posts.

I grew up in my dad’s drugstore and cannot believe how much has changed in the profession over the years. My dad only had to fill 20 scripts per day. Pharmacy was laid back. Government paid for everything except for fee of 2.95 no matter what income they were. This was in Regina Saskatchewan. No complaints from people ever! Patients were pleasant. No insurance billing, no computers. Best time to be practicing …it was the eighties….no forgeries, addicts…really!! I grew up knowing my customers. Yes, we had robbery but that was the front store…not for narcotics.

Now have to work for crummy corporation that only cares about bottom dollar,….reduced staffing hours….Have to deal with pharmacare and insurance….but still not as bad as American pharmacies…you have to deal with a lot of stress,!! You guys deal with tons of insurance companies. I hate them…wish Canada would outlaw them , they are a pain in the butt. Yes, and people are more thankless now than in the eighties…my customers treated my dad with respect…did not swear at him., The customers are rude and disrespectful these days!,,, just my humble opinion.

Also notice that back in my father’s pharmacy people were not on so many medicines! I remember this because I had to enter the drugs into the profile by hand. There was no computer back then. We typed labels using manual typewriter. I feel that nowadays patients are over medicated.

Why did I go to this profession… Because I admired the respect that my dad earned from the community and wanted to be like him. Unfortunately because of these frustrations in our job I feel jaded ….I feel I want to leave this profession…it has become worse…this is why I went to your website because I feel nobody outside our profession understands or empathizes …..I feel this blog is a great stress reliever and gives me a good laugh , which is what pharmacists need….also, unfortunately even though I try to earn the respect from customers, I don’t seem to get any…I am female and am still being viewed as an assistant or a high school kid, not a druggist. My male colleagues still get most of the credit for my work. I find that annoying. My dad wouldn’t have liked it either, he was my mentor and encouraged me to be a doctor, but I chose instead to follow him since I admired him. Just venting!

ok, im a technician an a popular retail chain in one of the most welfare ridden rinky dink drug addict towns in america. and i hear these excuses every day. its not that we dont believe all of them and assume every one is a drug addict. but the people with these excuses…are the same ones over and over, seriously how bad can your luck be? its so back, drs will only prescribe 7 days worth of meds at a time for these people and all have a fill by date on them. when a dr has to go out of their way to put a date your meds can be filled on the hardcopy…they know your filling early. when your meds have to be monitored on a weekly basis and you gotta hav a pain contract be locked into 1 pharmacy and pass a piss test every week. your an addict. plain and simple. the fact that you think im stupid is irrelevant cause i will turn you away before the pharmacist has to.its my job, im like a spam filter for the pharmacy.

also, im confused as to why patients are on this site? what were you looking for that led you here? why would you search for something you would find so offensive(truth hurts; but yes people in masses “the public” suck” cause if you dont work in a pharmacy, you really have no clue how exhausting it is to be yelled at for things that are out of your control, like for example the other day a surgeon wrote a narcotic pain rx for a medication…that doesnt exist. i cant fix that. we cant just change a narcotic prescription, follow LAWS and RULES may not be convenient for some one in pain, or even some one lookin for a fix. but like these professional say our jobs are on the line here shit can hit the fan from so many different angles it not funny. when your pressure us to do things in a “fast food” fashion, thats where your mistakes come it and shortages happen. cause you guys stand at the counter eye stabbing us until we go to the register. and its true we are clerks, but not with more power with more education. and no i have no clue about any products in the store beyond the medical section im not front end i barely get to walk out of the pharmacy to pee.

Heather,
I totally get the whole being yelled at, etc…I am an elementary teacher. Yes, we both have very different problems on a daily basis, but I still sympathize for you all as I am sure you do for me HA! What happens if you really do need the medicine and the prescription has been lost? Did I lose it on the place to ATL? Hotel? In a public restroom? I have no clue where they were left…I use a very low dosage of Hydrocodon for period symptoms. It is coming up next week. I know I should call and get a new prescription but I am humiliated and fearful that I could get in trouble for losing a controlled substance. Is everyone looked at as “abusers” or are one time offenders okay in your opinion such as me…? I found this site by googeling help on lost medication. Wanted to do my research. Any advice?

It depends on the pharmacy and even the people working that day. some are nice. some are fucking pricks. I am prescribed 90 1mg klonopin a month(because i have crippling social anxiety and panic attacks at the drop of a hat) which still automatically makes me look like a druggy to the ass hole techs. I am now a freshman in college in a big city(cincinnati, ohio) and the surrounding area(anything about 2 blocks from the campus is GHETTO AS FUCK and that is an understatement. every week the head of campus security sends out emails with crime reports and every week there are multiple reports of robberies at gunpoint, knife point, stabbings, people being jumped and robbed. The closest pharmacy is literally in THE WORST AREA and, being a freshman, I would have to walk…30 minutes both ways. I’d probably be robbed as soon as I walked out of the pharmacy just because people would see me getting medicine of some kind and they’d hope it’s vicodin or whatever. I still see my same family doctor back in my home town because he has been taking care of everyone in my family all the way back to my great grandmother. He is really cool and understands that I am not a drug seeking ass hole. We’ve talked about why we think I am in need of medicine like this. From my first memory until age six, I was severely beaten and very, very severely mentally abused by my step father. I was so nervous as a child that I would vomit all the fucking time and couldn’t control it. My step dad would make me take my shirt off and clean the vomit with my shirt and then wear the shit for the rest of the day and even sleep in it. my mom couldn’t do anything because he beat her even worse…right in front of my face a lot of times. Anyways, I come up to see my doctor and get my scripts(i also take gabepentin or whatever it’s called) and it will sometimes be like 2-4 days before the 30 day thing. so i go to the pharmacy by my grandmother’s house(it’s a krogers) because I have no insurance and my scrips are 20 bucks total for 90 1mg kpins and 60 300mg gabe. They will NEVER fill it when I come in. EVER. they give me nasty looks and act like i am a fucking criminal. since i am in school, my appointments are always on friday afternoons so my doc’s office is closed by the time I drop my scripts off and come back to have them tell me they refuse to fill it. I explain to them that I am a college student with no car that lives with all freshman in a dorm with no car and the closest pharmacy in a 30 minute walk one way through the absolute ghetto so I was hoping to have it filled while I am here with a car. they don’t give a fuck. actually, just yesterday i took my scrip to them to get it filled and they wouldn’t so i asked for the scripts back and the fucking cunt pharmacist wrote in bold red letters at the top “DO NOT FILL UNTIL 9/11/12”. What a fucking super ultra cunt. god fucking damn it. so i went to a local pharmacy and showed them the paper and explained my situation and they filled it no problem and said that it’s ridiculous how the workers at kroger feel the need to belittle me. I don;t give a fuck about the whole “oh well we are assholes because so many people lie to us and this and that” fuck you, you elitist fucking assholes. get the fuck over yourselves. boo fucking hoo. that’s like saying cops have the right to use force and scream and yell and pull their weapons on someone they pulled over for making an illegal turn “just because we deal with so many dangerous criminals” GET THE FUCK OVER YOURSELVES. HOW ABOUT YOU PUT YOURSELVES IN SOMEONE ELSES SHOES. DO YOU THINK I WANT TO FUCKING RELY ON SOME PILLS JUST SO I CAN SLEEP AND FUNCTION IN SOCIETY? DO YOU THINK THAT WITH ALL OF MY MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES THAT A SNOTTY PHARMACIST JUDGING ME AND REFUSING TO GIVE ME THE MEDICINE THAT I NEED ONLY A MERE 4 DAYS EARLY FOR THE LOWEST SCHEDULED CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES?? When dealing with those types of pricks(you can instantly tell if you are) I just wanna scream “I AM NOT A FUCKING DRUG SEEKER. I WAS BEATEN ON A DAILY BASIS FOR YEARS AS A CHILD AND TOLD THAT NO ONE LOVES ME AND FORCED TO WEAR VOMIT COVERED CLOTHES ALL DAY AT HOME AND TO BED. I AM CRIPPLED WITHOUT MY FUCKING MEDICINE AND IT DEPRESSES ME THAT I EVEN NEED IT. YOU THINK I AM A DRUG SEEKER? WHO ARE YOU TO FUCKING SAY THAT MY DOCTOR, WHO KNOWS MY FAMILY HISTORY ALL THE WAY BACK TO MY GREAT GRANDMOTHER, DOESN’T KNOW WHAT IS BEST FOR ME? YOU AREN’T FUCKING GOD. STOPPING PEOPLE FROM GETTING THE MEDICATIONS THAT THEY NEED IS FUCKING SICK.”

Fuck the assholes at kroger. my script cost 34 bucks at the nice pharmacy. to me, an extra 26 dollars is worth not being judged and belittled and treated like a fucking heroin junky. NOT ALL PHARMACISTS ARE BAD. unlike the moron pharm techs and pharmacists that think anyone with a script for a controlled substance is a drug seeking addicted pill selling heroin junky because they need their script filled slightly early sometimes due to their situation with college and travel and transportation JUST BECAUSE SOME OF THEM ARE DRUG SEEKERS, I understand that just because SOME pharms are dicks doesn’t mean they ALL ARE. you’d think with their 6 years of school that they wouldn’t be stupid. and the whole ” well it’s my liscense on the line” shut the fuck up. filling a klonopin script 4 days early is going to cost you your fucking license? get the fuck over it. and maybe the people treat you like assholes and yell and scream is because BEING JUDGED AND LOOKED DOWN UPON BY SOME CUNT IN A WHITE COAT IS REASON ENOUGH FOR ANYONE TO YELL AND SCREAM. especially if that cunt in the white coat is coming between that person and THEIR MEDICINE THAT THEIR DOCTOR, WHO ACTUALLY KNOWS THEM PERSONALLY AND IS 14324259 TIMES MORE QUALIFIED THAN A WANNABE DOCTOR TO MAKE A JUDGEMENT ON DRUG SEEKING BEHAVIOR.

In short, FUCK THE PRETENTIOUS CUNTS. Thank you to the understanding and reasonable people that realize you are a human being and not a piece of trash just because you need medicine that some people abuse.

i just found this website.my lower back is gone and i cannot move without the roxi that my dr prescribes.the pharmacy dont have them so i just stay as still as i can and take the pain.after reading this i think maybe rather than feel well i will just say i am done with it.the pain will go away when i die.its all temporary anyway and so many judges with no jury.only in america!

I completely agree with most of this, I have been on pain meds for around 10yrs due to severe RA & other issues. I’m only 34 so I’ve had more than my fair share of crappy looks etc.. because they assume my age means I’m a junky, I’ve never been rude except when CVS has “lost” my prescriptions on at least 10 occasions only to find them after making me sit in pain & wait an hour (I’ve since switched) & once when a local pharmacy was holding back 5days worth, for several months I kept running out early. I am very particular about taking the correct dose & keeping them locked up so on about month 5 the minute I walked in the door I got out 30 plastic bags & put each days in a bag to make sure there was no chance I was getting up at night not realising I’d taken more yet 5 baggies were empty, I counted it 5x then called the pharmacy who went ballistic on me saying I was lying, luckily it was in a bottle that physically could not hold even 2 more pills & they taped the label down so it couldn’t be removed w/o being obvious so I drive 15min back to town get a gruff & very rude reception by pharmacist saying I counted those myself etc.. & all I said is tell me how you fit those extra 20 some pills into that bottle & I’ll take my business elsewhere from now on. He couldn’t explain it so gave me the correct amount never apologized, was rude the whole time & then I learn they fire some girl for stealing yet I never got a call saying hey sorry about that you were right & we have made sure it’ll never happen again, I got nothing so I never returned but this is why I don’t do 1 of the things you suggest which is return unused pills to pharmacy to be discarded, I flush them so I know for myself they aren’t being abused.

Excuse some misspellig my wireless keyboard is dying.
I think pharmacists are little bitches. I hate taking drugs and they always acuse me for being a dope head. I was diagnosed with severe ADHD and every time i change that medication to find the one that suites me i fucking get eyeballed and told “your to old your insurance doesnt cover this” Which it does you cheap fucking basterds. Why would we ask you how your doing when your assholes to everyone because you think they just want drugs. Your stupid and dont know shit. They resently put me on generic adderall but I hate it. Generic meds 90% of the time do not work but it saves you money.
Dude grow up, we don’t want to be your friends because you hassle people to much just trying to live a normal life. I always take my meds back to the doctor to have them throw it away for me and they still think im an abuser.
Just because some lie. doesnt mean we are all lying. stop being a bitch and be nice to us and we will show you respect and ask you how your doing. But it seems most pharmacists are just tightwad assholes.
I will throw this medication in your fucking face! and tell you to fucking eat it you fucking asshole. Dont bring your car to my shop because I will charge you up the ass for it and tell you that you have a blown engine. Maybe piss in your gass tank. Get a real job you fucking joke.

Hi, I understand all of the pharmecies veiws here! I feel bad for them. And I am also one who comes in early counting on them to work there magic and fill for me early. The condition I have is unbareable. I have a bad neck/back and just want to be pain free. So of course with medicine it helps. I also raise two children that is the most important thing in my life to be on top of things at all times. My son also has a disability that has been a journey. “Autism” I think I not only use my pain pills for pain blocking but also a stress reliever here at home. They have helped me cope in so many ways. But now that Ive learned how habit forming they are. I think they actualluy might be worse for me then better in the end. Pharmecys actually are just looking out for your well being, I know. I just hope my docter don’t get blame for all my early fills. Is he contacted when overrides happen? I am lucky enough for him to work with me being such low income I wouldn’t want to anger him.

If feel u guys saying that the pharmacists can be an asshole! Because at one Phamacy he will say it is too early for freakin’ water pills but I can go to the other up the street and can get anything and they don’t care! I do not have time for that crazy crap! Just give me the stupid medicine so I can go home and live!!!! Thank you!!!

reply to the working pharmistist my wife has a on going problem with cronic pain do to a series of medical problams and is on what you call welfare she also has a friend who travels a lot and she sometimes goes along with her and pays for the travel and such so u do not need to judge any one because of there financial state or the programs they are on we are living people also evidently you are a well to do person and look down on us I would never say this person is a stuck up fucking snob who judges people all the time because you make more money than we do have a good day and go fuck yourself long and hard sounds like you need it

to all you judging people who think you are better than those of us on state funding or other such programs you are not!ther was a time when I cold buy and sell anyone that I wanted . did I choose to judge the people around me because of this?no I just lived my life he way I always have and just try to be good to my fellow man not sit on some chat room and complain about it never been in a chat room but saw some of these coments on this one as I was looking for a job over the net because I don’t even have gas money to put in a car I borrowed from some one because I sold mine to feed my family and yes I am on state assistance not because I choose this but because I can not work do to loosing both my legs so judge me now so when I come in to get my pain meds with my state funded insurance card I will just say thank have a good day

Today I was shorted by a pharmacy 5 subutex. I have never been shorted (or been over) my meds before by any pharmacy. I hadn’t even left the store before I reported it. To make matters worse I work there, but not in the pharmacy. No machines. Just hand counting.

I politely told them I noticed I was short. They didn’t even count thier on hand but said they had what they were showing.

The pharmacist explained the tech filled it and double checked it. However I believe pharmacists are still suppose to verify counts for controlled. That was not done, there was no circle around the number with the pharmacists initials.

The camera won’t lie when I speak to the manager on Monday, I have never had any call in requests at my doc or anything, yet I am going into this fight with both hands tied behind my back because I am just a low life shitty junkie, even though I have a doctorate in my particular field.

I know for a fact that this will not be resolved in my favor but I feel the need to fight all the same. If a pharmacist is intentionally shorting prescriptions to feed their own habit, and making it hard for those of us legitimately seeking help, they should be fired and thier license revoked,

We are treated as criminals, and the worst form of life, but we are people, and psychiatrists specify we have an illness and that we are not criminals, yet the stigma remains, we get it the worst from those who took an oath to help us.

Yes, happened to me too, see below, the idiot pharmacist did not realize the supplier was no shipping bottles of 60, no longer bottles of 100, and he did not bother to physically count the tablets, but just rely what HE THOUGHT was in the supplier’s bottle, and all this bs about “double counting”, NEVER leave a pharmacy without them counting the medication in front of you, especially of a controlled substance, just because you wear a white jacket, does not mean you are not a junkie. My Rx was for #180, but they only gave me #100 thinking 60 was 100, and 40 was 80 (using the reverse counting method) on bottles of 60, which they thought were bottles of 100. The guy swore till noon he double counted, and the kicker was the bottle they were in just fit 100, 180 would not allow the cap to go on, and he still did not believe me. I called the police, and the next morning I get a “I’m sorry call, I did not realize the supplier changed the number of tablets in each bottle.” I told him “If you would have counted them LIKE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TOO, this would not have happened.

Two years ago I had to give up my career, I have multilevel herniated discs pinching my spinal cord in the thoracic region making me a non candidate for surgical intervention. I hate taking pain meds far more than you overinflated egos like dispensing them. I can no longer drive, work or pick up my grandchildren for hugs and kisses.

You have further proved that my local pharmacist for some reason sees me as a pill seeker. I see one gp, one rheumy and one pain mgmt dr. My contract with my pain mgmt dr is very strict , I follow every single rule because he is among the best in the country … So now when my snobby pharmacist who has insisted on calling to verify my meds every single month, after I’ve been into the office .. NOW thinks she has a right to request copies of my MRIs…. I know it’s not my imagination… She’s just like tap… I’ve not changed pharmacies or doctors ever… I will be taking my scripts elsewhere.. I may have to pay a little more… But I can go somewhere that will treat me like a human being… There is no pain med in the world that I will experience a life free of pain… How dare you people judge me.

WHO can help the addictive nature of narcotics?? If you are going to earn a living as a professional druggist or drug dealer then deal with your clients like GOLD!! NO one wishes to be sick ! No one wants to be in bed for 20 hours per day sleeping due to pain !! The issue is not OUR behavior !! It comes down to your personal ability to deal with people !! Some can do this HARD task while others fall flat on their face ! Assume all to be innocent until proven ??? WHAT??? To react exactly as prescribed ! The very nature of opiates require higher and higher doses !! Fortunately there is an old drug called KETAMINE !! That shows promise of saving the earth !! It operates differently and instantly cures almost all cases of depression !! But there is no money in the cure so we continue to eat poison !! After paying for OxyContin for years the company sells out to the Feds and puts toxins like BHT and PEG in the tablets only in the US and it makes them un digest able !! It’s truly a wonder that pharmacists do not need to be behind thick glass!!! I expect treated respectfully and thank god I am able to TEACH rather than HARM there have been many times in my life the pharmacist made the wrong assumption !!! The only difference I can see is after growing a beard and looking older I am much Moore excepted ??? It’s kinda funny the pharmacists seem to know that if you 87 years old that there is probably no place that does not hurt So with age this will improve and to those CRUDE PHARMACISTS. IF you do not desire to earn the profit that Vicodin and OxyContin bring in ! Then DO NOT BITCH about CROWD CONTROL at your heroin dealership !!! Don’t ever talk down about people that are addicted to drugs you profit from !! That should be illegal and immoral !!

i guess it is like my doctor said to me at one of our visits pharmicist are angry because their intentions were to become doctors most likely and failed at that so the use the power the do have to control when you get your meds and how fast the work on getting pri-auth and contact docs for info,ect shame on the poor mannered pharmadocs lol however i have a great pharmacy who would never speak the way this wanna be doc speaks and btw isnt he costing the store money because i would be damned if i let them fill shit for me meds are expensive so suggestion dont do business with anyone who treats their customrs that way you are just contibuting to their pay my god sorry but that was a no brainer

I’m actually to tired to scroll back thru all the posts to reply to the one i’m talking about. I have been in MO. for about 3 yrs. now. The whole drug-seeker look and a few actual b.s. stories that have happened to me at my pharmacy in MO. make me ill. Pharmacists are not the prescription police. My father is a medical doctor and if he writes a script, then the pharmacy should fill it without using passive-aggressive behavior toward the customer at the point of sale. I never had this issue with any pharmacy i used in TX. I decided to “profile”, if you will, my pharmacist which was not hard…his shifty behavior was so transparent. Reported him to a federal agency just to let him know “I” have rights beyond belief and would be policing the police, so to speak. Why profile me? Why not grow some balls(well, i guess he can’t, as his wife has them in her purse) and call and question the doctor himself? Cowards, they are! Bully someone who needs you is a real impressive and classy way to run your show, Mr. Pharmacist! Go to med. school. Inferior complex runs deep in your folks. Back to my first reason for posting…some self-proclaimed Pharmacist was talking about Antabuse. Funny thing is…he/she kept spelling it as Anabuse. It was no typo. It was mentioned several times and spelled the same way. Just leave people out of your miserable little cubbys you stand behind daily counting pills and most of all, out of your paranoid thoughts. Not the consumers fault that you are jaded just because you have to deal with drug-seekers as a part of your job description that, unfortunately you cannot do anything about. Remember: you chose your field and that, my pharmacist sleuths, is not anyone’s doing but your own.

Hey pharmacy PHIL, you sound like a miserable underpaid slave. If you don’t like “drug addicts” maybe you should’ve chosen a different line of work eh? Who in their right mind would want to be a drug dealer and see themselves as anything but a dealer? You pharmacists talk crap but it’s unite obvious you couldn’t amount to anything better than a legal low level poor drug dealer. You are just tools that work for conglomerate companies that make billions while you slave in a small flourescent grey carpeted room all day, don’t get ahead of yourselves, and if you don’t like your job quit! What’s you expect???? Hah you idiots, you act uptight while you’re giving out drugs? Get real, if you go to the beach there’ll be seagulls; if you sell addicting DRUGS you’re bound to be dealing with addicts you idiots!!!!!

First of all let me start off by saying that I am both a controlled substance patient( ADD meds), and a pharmacy tech(with ambitions to either becoming a doctor or a pharmacist). After reading the postings on this blog it has become pretty apparent that there is a lot of hatred that is directed towards the pharmaceutical industry. I can somewhat sympathize with the people saying that us patients that need to be on Controlled substances are looked down at as scum by medical professionals. I have been required to take drug tests by my doctor to see If I am abusing illicit drugs, and are often ignored by him and scoffed at, even though I never have asked to refill early or shown any drug seeking behavior. Which is why I am now looking for a new doc. My search is hindered by the fact that most drugs that treat ADD are highly controlled and abusable schedule II drugs, and even though I have documented medical records most doctors put me on medications that are completely useless because they are so skeptical of my condition. But I digress
I have worked with pharmacists that turned out to be drug addicts or drug sellers (ie on the street). Although from first glance one would see, that they looked pretty normal, I was shocked to be informed by Loss prevention that they were fired for theft. These type of pharmacists are few and far between and their addiction was probably fueled by the fact that it seemed relatively easy to take drugs from the shelves after hours without anyone noticing. I have met new pharmacists who were so paranoid about handling C II prescriptions that they would simply hand back the prescription and lie to the patient about not having the meds in stock. This pharmacist’s paranoia was stemmed from being unfamiliar with the new good faith dispensing policy enacted by our particular chain. Since I knew the patient had cancer and legitimately needed the percocet, I walked her through the process, and talked her into keeping the prescription, otherwise the poor man would have had to go through the trouble of finding another pharmacy all while suffering from pain.
But this notion that pharmacists are nothing more than glorified clerks who count pills all day is simply not true. I have personally seen instances that if it were not for the pharmacist intervention, the patient would have been seriously injured or killed by the doctors actions. “JUST DO WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED”, without carefully analyzing or thinking is just asking for trouble. That is why we have pharmacists, to counsel patients, decipher the doctors hieroglyphics, and correct their mistakes. Yes mistakes, just because they have MD or DO after their names, doesn’t make them the absolute truth on everything or superhuman. I have seen doctors mistakenly write for enough coumadin to make an elephant bleed to death. That is why pharmacist have not been replaced by robots yet, and I hope they never will be. A machine cant empathize, it doesn’t have instincts. But again I digress. Yes pharmacists can appear to be jaded only because they are often battered by incompetent doctors, an angry and uneducated clientele that yells at them for overcharging for their nexium even though their insurance is to blame. Although I don’t completely disagree with the insurance not wanting to pay for their nexium when the patient has not even tried prilosec, or prevacid. BOTH Of which are available OTC and are generic. The same goes with CLarinex. And the only reason the doctor prescribes these overpriced BRAND name drugs is that the DRug reps give them incentives to prescribe such drugs (ie more money everytime they prescribe the drug, and giving more business (patients0 their way.
My point is that the health industry is a complex multi-faceted industry with the patient at the center of it all, and it is often them that gets the worst of the deal. We, the pharmacy are just in the middle of it all too and have to deal with the annyoing insurance companies, Overreaching laws and bureaucracy set by the DEA and FDA, and sometimes incompetent doctors. So the next time you ask why the pharmacists does not refill your xanax 10 days early, its because he is scared that the state board will catch on and he will loose his license. Although this seems almost laughable , there have been instances where people do loose their license because of this. THis information is public, visit your state pharmacy board website and you can see it under disciplinary actions. If I were in their shoes I’d be careful but give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Don’t judge a book by its cover.

ok, first off as a pharm u should know that any1 on pain meds, for long time, dont get the high, euphoria, or whatever its called nowadays because of too tolerant. Now my insurance pays for my meds after 21 days so if u go out of town or whatever, your good to go, i used to be a reg at one pharmacy. id come in on the due date or a few days after or before, whenever dr wrote me the script, i live 40m away from town and with gas prices, i try to get all done at once. now this was 2 days early, the pharm stereo typed me, he didnt answer when he was going to fill my script til he looked at, yes im in sweats, i just came from pt and i am hurting more than norm but you think… what?? im a druggie looking for the high, no i just want to be able to walk without blacking out cuz pain is so severe. ive never snorted crushed or anything, but i cant get up the $$ to have my back surgeries because im middle class, so im screwed and have to pay 2800 before i step foot in the inpatient surgery doors so before you judge about filling pain meds all the time, which btw now has links to fibromyalgia and add because of effects of long time use, so when you see add. w them, y you judging? like one person said, you’re not the doctor, you dont know what that person is going through. ive broken 5 vert. 3x’s, and i refuse to sit on my butt and become some person that says i cant do this or that cuz of my pain. i get up and push myself through the pain to walk for years, since i first fell and came down on corner of building, i refused to be paralyzed then, and stereotypes like you are paralyzing the system. i do however know everything you’re saying is true about drug seekers but its not about the high, and maybe their dr just wont listen

Hey, what about the idiot Pharm that thinks he’s getting 100 tabs from the supplier, but only gets 60 (Opana 20mg REFORMULATED), HE DOES NOT BOTHER to actually count the tablets, but thinks he’s transferring 100 to the Rx bottle, but it’s only 60, and when I complain I was “shorted”, he calls be an abuser, on for him to call me the next day saying 60 came from the supplier, but still telling me he “counted” the medication. I called the police and stated that 100 tablets would not fit in the bottle anyway.

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
I resent your information on here! I would like to tell you a true story! My daughter since birth has endured 17 craniofacial surgeries and last year she had one that went horribly wrong. She ended up with a flesh eating infection along with other infections that kept her hospitalized for 4 months, her face was eaten away by this infection, she has been on narcotics a while now and now gets them prescribed due to all the bone in her forehead is gone and they cannot put artificial bone there due to infection and rejection, so she must suffer like this. I am writing this note because I am sick of pharmacies lying to me and telling me half truths! Sick of it! Sick of the fact that the pharmacies here thing that whoever walks into a pharmacy with a strong pain medication, ie: oxycodone, oxycontin, Opana, ect… they are all drug seekers and addicts…I AM SICK OF IT! I am tired and wore down that almost every month I have to take my daughter to the doctors for her check up and prescriptions, and have people stare at her, look at her as if she is different or scary, or even weird! I endure the pain and horror at grown adults making snide comments and rude remarks(not all but most)about what happened to that child. As if it were something I did intentionally, and if I could fix it I sure would! I am sick of the fact that it takes over 2 hours for me and my daughter to drive to the specialist that she see’s and then only to spend maybe 10 minutes with the doctor. I am sick of the long drive back in traffic then to go home and realize its already 6:00 pm and you still have nothing cooked for dinner so you get fast food, nasty yucky fast food thats cold, but you eat it anyway because you’re tired and worn out. Then you head to your local 24 hour walgreens(walgreens is the worst as far as narcotic pain meds filled at their facility)they look at you they hold your script for a few minutes they come back and say that they can fill it but that it will not be until the next day or if its a weekend then the following monday. You ask why and say that they have to get a hold of the doctor even though they put you through the same BS last month. Then they say its a good faith law, that the DEA has implemented. What a LIE! I recently contacted the NCDEA they have no idea what a Good Faith Law is and they told me that they did not put it in place and that it sounds like a state thing and not from the DEA! Just like the state has now implemented the laws about doctors and how they can write a prescription narcotic. Did you know that if you are on Medicaid/Medicare then if your doctor writes you a pain medication they have to use a special prescription pad? It has to be blue and it has to be the type 0f security paper to write on that can not be forged or tamper resistant. That to me is prejudiced and one sided! I am sick of waiting on something that I have been getting these same prescriptions for my daughter since well over 19 years ago when her very first pain medication was Tylenol 3 in a liquid form. I mean I could understand that if this was my very first fill and I have not established a consistent monthly fill at a pharmacy. Its is not my fault they do not have a pharmacy on duty on a daily basis that works at my local pharmacy. I was told by the pharmacist that they would not fill the medication until they verified the prescription with the doctor. Even though they put me through this same BS last month and the month prior. I mean what if it were a friday and I didn’t get to the pharmacy until after 5pm? What if my prescribing doctor was on vacation? There are so many things wrong with this and since my daughter has been on these type meds for a years now its crucial she get them filled every 30 days and they get filled on time so she doesn’t miss a dose. Well she has been without her meds this months for a total of 38 hours! Because of this, and this is the truth what i am going to say and for some reason the pharmacist that work at these bigger pharmacies do not like to tell their customers this. It is at the Pharmacist Discretion as to if and when he or she will fill a pain narcotic prescription. I find it crazy that a pharmacist has that much power! It is disgusting to me to think that if I piss off a pharmacy tech that he or she will not fill a script solely based on that! Then the pharmacies like to tell you that this is a “Good Faith Law” from the DEA and that by law they have to do this and contact the doctor or get authorization! So Stupid! And what really bothers me is the fact that this same pharmacy just did this a month ago and they are linked up nationally to see whether or not I filled a narcotic script within 30 days at a different pharmacy! I just wish that the pharmacy would say “hey i see you have a script here for oxycontin..I don’t feel comfortable filling this without a doctor verifying this.” I would rather that explanation then a lie or some BS that they are telling me like they have to wait to fill it for a diagnosis as to why you are taking this drug! I thought that is why we have HIPPA Laws? I just don’t get it…AT ALL!

Ok, pharmacist. Your childish reaction to people who are being childish proves that you do not belong in such a respected field as the medical profession. Also, you might be cranky to others too, for no apparent reason, if you have constant, chronic pain which you know will never be cured because doctors can’t find the source. And sometimes people are under-prescribed by uncaring doctors. And even if someone is prescribed adequately, why don’t you try looking at some of the side effects of narcotic pain medicines–irritability! You little baby, grow up, shut up, and do your job and collect your inflated paycheck.

Pharmacists ARE assholes! When my Doctor and insurance company approve a refill of three lousy days early, the pharmacist should leave it at that! But, oh no, the pharmacist insists on playing God!
You pharmacists are glorified pill counters (and most of you can’t even do that properly!) you aren’t Doctors, so shut your mouth and fill the scripts! And collect that weekly paycheck that you sure as hell DO NOT DESERVE! You keep right on judging all of those who are on pain medication, but I pray that one day you’ll know HOW IT FEELS! ASSHOLE! Keep whining like a bloody two year old! Better yet, why don’t you quit your job? One less asshole pharmacist in the world!

I am sorry for your daughter. I hope at some point they can find a better solution for her. I became a Walgreens customer by default when they bought out drug fair. Two years ago as a result of Myofascial Pain Syndrome and scoliosis I had a disc in my neck and thoracic spine spontaneously rupture while I was at work. The T6 disc burst with such force it caused spinal cord edema. Surgery is too risky per the neurologists I’ve seen.. Never the less.. I became a chronic pain patient. Every single month Walgreens gave me an issue. I have a contract with my pain management specialist that I agree to have no other pain meds of any kind written by anyone but him. Use one pharmacy for all my medications.. And submit random urine screenings to prove I’m not taking anything not prescribed but that I’m also taking the meds written.

Every month it was the same hassle.. Always on back order , have to call the doc to verify .. Then a few months ago she told me per new DEA requirements they needed copies of my MRIs and office notes to fill my meds. LIARS… My doctor had all his patients stop using Walgreens .. They refused to send any medical records per HIPA laws…

Take your business to a locally owned business .. Family owned.. They will appreciate your business.. Treat you like a human being.. And their price is the same.. Walgreens has been cited and fined for poor controls.. So instead of educating their pharmacists who think they know a drug seeker by looking at them.. Forces YOU the consumer to be inconvenienced.

p.s I love my new pharmacist.. They’ve gotten a lot of new business and appreciate it !!

My daughter is on ADHD meds and it really stinks to be treated like a drug addict every time I get them filled. Putting her on medication was a painful decision… one I second-guess all the time, but is reinforced every time I get a call from her school asking if I’ve missed a dose when I do. No parent wakes up one day and says “Hey I really want to put my child on drugs!” It just doesn’t happen like that.

Unfortunately, I had a friend steal some of her meds while she was staying at my house. Needless to say, we are not friends anymore. But, out of fear of exactly what the Pharmacists here are describing, I elected to keep her home from school for a week and take a week’s vacation from work instead of being treated like a junkie. Getting them filled on time is bad enough because of the way I get treated. I couldn’t stand dealing with the accusations and all-knowing looks that would result from trying to get them filled early.

So tell me… who are you really affecting with all of your accusations and shaming of your customers? A junkie is just going to find another avenue. Those of us who are just regular people in bad situations are the ones who suffer.

Yea but what about the patient who is in chronic pain, sees the pharmacists assistant at the rodeo stumbling around totally wasted all night and then, you go to pick up your meds an the ‘asshole’ doesn’t check his staffs work so he gives you twice the dosage of a fast acting narcotic when you are used to 3 years of slow release meds….ALMOST KILLING YOU!!! Fuck off for your rant asshole….you aren’t God, have no right to judge and certainly aren’t perfect.

If you didn’t notice he mentioned that this isn’t in regards to those who actually need the medicationand whom are open and honest as I assume you are 🙂 so don’t be offended because this was to the people in the wrong not people like you.

Hello everybody, i have a question and i really hope one of you can answer it. Ok well i will try and make this short, my sister was in a really bad work accident and ended up having really bad disc problems for sometime now saw many drs but could only help her for so long and said u need to go to pain management finally she found a pain management that excepted her insurance. Anyway she recieves a script of 120 percocet 10 mgs a month, well recently she went to the dentist and has to have a tooth pulled out . Ok here is were it gets tricky she just filled her script for the pain meds a week ago for her back but went to the er monday night for her tooth cause one she didnt want to over take her pain meds for her back now for her tooth and also the dentist office s said to go to the er cause the dentist is on vacation and cant pull it out any earlier because she is gone till next Wednesday when she gets it pulled. Now when she went to the er she asked for help not a script and the doc said sorry i cant really help u because u have been red flagged cause u just filled ur pain meds a week ago and u should still happen. So with that being said what happens now? Will that info be sent back to my sisters pain management doctor ? Serious answers only please. Thanks so much.

I have to say that I find the behaviour by many pharmacists appalling. This is going to sound incredibly sexist however, I find most male pharmacists (not the relief pharmacists I’ve encountered, but the full-time ones) to act like pricks. I’ve noticed a lack of listening skills. They aren’t listening to the patient’s problems. They talk over the patient frequently. I am a pharmacy assistant and I’ve got to say my experience with male pharmacists has been awful (and I’m a guy…). I was working with a predominantly female staff before and they were amazing. They had excellent customer service skills. They would listen to the patients and then address their problems/concerns. I understand that these people are patients and that you are a professional who has to make sure that people aren’t abusing their medications however, get some manners and don’t talk down to people! You can still say these things in a polite way. You may need to put your foot down, but you don’t need to actually squash the person. Again, you do need act as a professional and remember that these people are patients, but they do choose to come to your pharmacy. Therefore, you can show some basic customer service skills and demonstrate some social niceties, which may come across as difficult for you but it certainly wouldn’t hurt. So, I’m sorry to say, I agree with this page to an extent, but I’ve seen some pretty poor behaviour that is definitely unnecessary. You can behave like a civilized human being and still be a professional. I know, shocker right?

I love my pharmacist! Now having said that I have met some of the rudest, nasty speaking, and most disrespectful pharmacist too.and most of it was due cause they didn’t know my medical history. Mind you it’s non of there business. Yet since I am a nice people I explained to these jerks that I had been out on so many pain meds and narcotics all of a sudden was because I was diagnosed with degenerative disc diease. And I couldn’t feel my right leg and I am getting epidurals every three months. They ( meaning the doctors) are wanting to do surjury on my back. I can be down I have a 5 year old daughter. But the pharmacist called my doctor to make sure the RX was written by him. A person I had gone to for years! A Person I had never been rude to. DID NOT BELIEVE ME! So a far as you pharmacist saying ‘O’ we have no problem if people are nice! I Now say to you BS!!!! Because I am on so many meds with my back problems, migraine, & Asthma. A lot of pharmacist treat me like a drug addict! I have never order my RX’s early ever!!!

My reply to MovieMomma is that pharmacists are caught between a rock and a hard place, especially when in the big box store.

We don’t diagnose individuals. We go on the patient’s word about what they reveal to us, whether in truth or meant to befuddle. Chances are good that we know in our guts when a patient is fibbing, but ‘gut feelings’ don’t go down in a court of law.

And, yet, it IS very definitely the pharmacists’ obligation/business to fill any medication for medications by LAW. Especially when too many narcotics leave the pharmacy.

Walgreens just paid a humongous fine for selling too many narcotics. All were legitimately prescribed. Pharmacists cannot fill prescriptions without a prescription.

Pharmacists don’t write the scripts. If we were writing our own scripts and pocketing them, then the lawsuit would have been against an individual. The chain was sued because they had specific times limits for filling prescriptions.

In order to fill 60 scripts a minute, one has to on the average fill one prescription every 60 seconds. That amount of time leaves not much to look at a patient history, allergies, verify the legitimacy of the script, dose, etc. plus call the doc if there’s a question about it.

If you feel as if you are being treated as a drug addict unjustifiably, tell the pharmacist. Pharmacists are people, too. They don’t like treating people like widgets. Pharmacists usually go through all the rigamarole, hassle, 5-7 years of pharmacy school just for big bucks to work in a demanding job!

I am sorry for all the grief. All of it. This is not why I became a pharmacist. Surely there must be some other ways to get through this ‘system’ of obtaining relief for your poor daughter and you. Would it be possible to fill a prescription at a clinic close to where the office visit is located? Controlled substances other than CSII can be called in to a pharmacy (not oxycodone, morphine, straight codeine–but it’s not much of a pain reliever anyway).

When YOU PAY FOR MY SCRIPT, then I will bring it in for you to destroy!!! I have every ******* right to KEEP what I’ve already payed for, not to mention what’s been legally prescribed to me! Even if my script changes! That’s between ME and MY DOCTOR!

I have been cursed with chronic pain for over a decade. Nobody can truly understand unless they have been in my shoes. It’s bad enough I can’t play with my son and have to go lye down , missing family moments, but you cock, sucking, mother fucking pharmacists have to treat me like crap. Pain medication is the only thing that makes life bearable. Opioids have been around millenniums ; nothing new is available that is as effective or economical. Yes, I run out a few days early some months, others I go past. When you are in pain you will take your medication. Who gives a dam if someone is getting high, why? You do realize alcohol intoxicates you and is just as addicting and deadly, are you for prohibition? It’s a power trip which is pathetic; judging and giving people in misery more misery. Too you this is a game, it’s not, grow up and get a hobby. Really who gives a shit if Joe Shmo likes his Vikes. Why is that idiot allowed to ruin it for people like me? Shit, I wish I got high, a little fact when you are in pain you don’t get high morons. In addition, I like any other opioid user am physically dependent so there is that as if I didn’t have enough problems. So yeah facing withdrawal and my pain I can see making up a lie. Honestly, it’s none of your dam business. Ok there are Dr. Shoppers but again who cares. Every pharmacy there is a cop wannabe hassling people, just pathetic. These drugs should be easier to get, not hard which you assholes are making them. I can buy all the Norco’s I want for $5 each, Dilaudid 8mg for $10, Roxie’s……. But my pain management Dr. Is becoming more and more afraid to prescribe. I already have had 6 epidurals, one caused my duralumin to leak fluid which was misery like I never felt. Oh and that toradol someone mentioned sucks ass. Might as well push saline because it didn’t do anything. So my point is SO WHAT , who gives a crap why or what, if they have a valid script then give them it because you don’t know and it’s none of your business. You are creating a black market and treating many good people unjust. Like I said, I would lie if I had to …pain sucks! Remember when you deny a script you are like causing that person pain, that make you feel better about yourself? Next time you do , think that night how that poor SOB is probably doing. If this shit keeps up I’m just going to buy heroine and THATS what you asses are doing. Banned psudo , now the cartels in Mexico are out of control. One last year made Forbes top 10 richest in the world. So get off your high horses, stop being the police, and just fill the dam script!

Furthermore, if you hate being lied to then you chose the wrong career. This system we have leaves little choice , but to lie. Everyone facing pain is willing to lie, period. Especially when the salvation to their pain is on your shelves. Pain will make a person do a lot worse . I’m tired of being mistreated and assumptions made. I could have bought a Bentley with all the money I spent on tests, procedures, and routine visits to doctors. It’s disgusting what’s going on, if it gets you high , or could get you high then fuck that person. I tried every dam drug, nothing works like opioids do, nothing! I tried Tramadol it didn’t work , but holy shit was that awful to withdraw from, but it’s not a true opioid so fuck me it’s ok to take and let’s poison the narcotics with Tylenol and fry his liver that’s ok. Viox , remember that garbage my doctor gave me sacks of that poison and no one gave a shit, but oh no can’t have morphine, why? I still don’t get it, it’s ok to be dependent on a medication and it’s ok if it’s toxic, but getting high is the only thing I can see that’s so wrong, but you can goto the corner liquor store and get wasted on booze. It’s a joke, but it’s not funny. Yeah, the poor bastard that took all his pain meds is really going to tell you exactly that so you can call his dr. And black list him, yeah . Fucking moronic if you think you will ever get the truth, Jesus . I’ve been going to pain management for over a decade and I’m way under medicated, no where near for example 80mg of oxy, those are made for the crooked dr.’s and, yes and , I knew a pharmacists that got busted to sell. You wonder why people run out early. Your an addict you run out, your in pain you run out. That’s why I have a shitty quality of life.i have to watch the clock and take as directed. If the dam DEA would go fuck themselves my dr. Might not be such a pussy and give me what I need. But yes, we are all addicted, it’s just a question of use VS abuse. I use, but I’m getting tired of all this BS . All the cock roach infested 3rd world countries and many European ones at least have codeine OTC which actually works very well. I’m so sick of hurting, the BS with pharmacies, oh you are a day early, yeah well fuck I’m actually in the neighborhood , this is crap. Insurance will send 90 days why are pharmacies so wound up over a dam day? Actually, I was within the guidelines of the chains 3 day policy, it was my insurance that gave me a headache. I called and those asses lied and said it’s the DEA making them not give my meds until day 30 of 30, I see my dr every 4 weeks, but it got denied so every pharmacist would just kick my reorder to the side and not even bother calling me so I would show up, I’m crippled it not easy, and I would get the addict treatment , especially when I would say f, it I will pay, I have lots of money so I don’t give a crap over a few hundred bucks, I would rather pay then come back tat as some ass said is a strike, can’t pay yourself , even though you just want to get out of that germ infected old fart smelling place and not come back . This went on for months then finally I was enraged and I lost it And tore them a new one. My dad is a CEO, not saying where, but let’s just say those asses now kiss my ass. I’m ranting…..just stop judging, if you are so dam smart why a pharmacist? You like acting like a cop, go be one, a pharmacists shouldn’t be this way. Most of you are useless pieces of shit and I have to check for interactions myself anyways after almost dying from one; you should be replaced with a vending machine, It would take care of all your complaints and mine.

That’s just really sad. I’m a Pain patient as well and agree with some of his points. You don’t know me, yet you judge me based on my medication? It’s pathetic. I’ve been on Pain Meds for 7 years now and I’ve dealt with just about every generic judgement there is for those of us who require opioids for some relief.
Please don’t be one of those people who leaves others in pain.
Remember, you are the healthy one in the situation, we are the ones coming to you because we are suffering, have a bit of understanding.

As i am a patient, who takes a controlled substance on a daily basis for my attention deficit. I completely and totally agree with everything that you’ve written and have found it very much so helpful, sorry that you must to deal with so many assholes and junkies. It’s unfortunate that those “punks” make it so very difficult for people with legitimately needed medications to get what it is that [they] we truly need. Thank you very much for your opinion, I found it very helpful and I really enjoyed your input, best regards, Michael

i would like to know why i am being given a rx one month 12 days early and never called it in. they tell me the policy is three days early because i like to pick up all my meds at once, not go back three days later wait in another line for an 80 year olds big day out. i dont take narcotics, all i want is not be hassled and lied to. i dont treat anyone like crap. one month i am told three days early then get a call out of the blue my meds are really when i never asked for any then when i DO want to pick them up all at the same time i am told nope sorry 2 days early when there is 31 days in a 30 day supply of my meds. so i cant pick up my paxil and my thyroid meds together. NOOOOO i have to go back in three days and go over the same crap all over again. sooo we are not all drug addicts and liars. some of us just dont like waiting for grandma and grandpas big day out at the pharmacy..they should pack a picnic basket. ooooommmggg and never fails i get behind them in the drive through pharmacy, i see that bright gleaming handicapped sticker. some of us have a life and would like to live it out of the line at the pharmacy.

Yes and it’s bullshit like you being lied to that turns you into fucking assholes for people in real need. My mother is 54 years old with sever nerve damage in left elbow and shoulder, her refill is due on Friday the day after Thanksgiving so Monday she called her doctor to have everything called in so she can pick it up tonight because we are leaving at 8am to go to Florida where there is no Kroger I don’t know what they have down there. The DR said yes you can get them filled early I just called them in, they will let her get everything else early, gabapentin, annytryiptiline, metoprolol, requip, but not her pain medication. So now we are have to cut our thanksgiving with our family in FL short and come back on friday to get her medicine we were going to stay the weekend and enjoy the warm weather. Thursday is 30 days exactly won’t be open then so making them stretch that extra day which is hard for her because her tolerence is high after being on the same dosage of norco for 4 years but there is no reason we shouldn’t be allowed to get her medicine if she is going out of town if the doctor ok’s it then who the hell is the pharmacists to override the doctors decision? Seriously? Yes people ruin it for the rest of us but if someones doctor of 12 years says yes give it to them 2 days early then do what the person who went to medical school says not you and your community college degree at counting and applying labels to bottles. You ruined what could of been a decent vacation away from this shit state of Ohio.

So what I’m reading here is, if a DOCTOR’S patient comes in and kisses your ass, you’ll fill their prescription. Is that right?

Listen, your job mainly consists of filling out the proper paperwork and counting pills. I have been asked, I don’t know how many times, would I like to speak to the pharmacist. I always look at the one making the query like they are on meth. What reason would I have to speak to another idiot?

Pharmacists, and I know I’m generalizing here which really isn’t fair, but I swear mostly all have a Napoleonic complex. They have power godammit and they’re going to use it. I have had pharmacists decline to fill new prescriptions because I had a similar prescription filled less than 30 days prior for a condition that doesn’t have a damn thing to do with what the current prescription was written for. I’m talking about prescriptions written by highly qualified and long established Doctors, not by some fly by night pill mill Dr. The audacity of these wanna be physicians is at once maddening, insulting and patently ridiculous. You wanna be a Doctor? Go to school! By all means, if you suspect that a medicine prescription is false or a Doctor is full of shit, tell the Doctor so. Without question, you don’t have the balls for that, any Doctor worth his slat would tell you to kiss his ass. Until then, SERVE your customers. They pay your bills.

By the way, if you need any proof that what I say is true, read the comments by Mr. Douchebag, above. I’m surprised the idiot can figure out how to even post a comment. Douchebag is too nice of a name for that steamer.

It’s called Doctor-Patient relationship. NOT Doctor-Pharmacist-Patient relationship. Just count the little pills and put them in a bottle. A 3rd grader could do a pharamacists’ job (now with computer technology). Doesn’t matter, in 10 years, all Pharmacists will be replaced with robot technology.

I am mortified at this post. Seeming as I am a patient being cared for CHRONIC pain for 5 years now and have ONLY been prescribed narcs for post surgery and ultram to function without dropping down to floor in tears. I take HIGH offense to the judgement and lack of compassion for patients who ACTUALLY need help. EVERY time I leave the pharmacy I can feel the pre acausation from rhe entire staff that I am a “junkie” “pill head” you choose the name I am the one getting the dirty looks from PROFESSIONALS. I don’t care how many street drug seekers you see you made the decision to go to pharmacy school you knew what you were getting yourself into. I didn’t fucking choose to have 2 surgeries in one year and I certainly didn’t sign up for a pharmacists to snarle at me bc I am a regular for ultram. Next time you want to go on a rant one what you’re “angry” about ‘re consider the people YOU are affecting YOU are making our world ugly YOU are a part of the problem.for.your sorry ass attitude and your relationship with the “D” word and I’m not referring to a doctor im talking about the DEVIL.

CAN ANYONE FIND OUT WHO POSTS THIS? I want to report to the pharmacy board.

im glad i don’t have to deal with any bad pharmacists. i mean yes they have to be pretty suspicious, but i am always polite and that makes you look good so you don’t get any suspicious looks or talk! i go to the same pharmacy, get the same script every month, from the same doctor. i live 30 minutes out of town so i always stay. i make sure i have something to do for the wait and i dont bother them to rush. and if i have a problem with my medication, i talk to my doctor not them, they cant do anything about it. and if it is a legit problem with your medication, then you should be able to talk to your doctor with no worries (IE this dosage isnt working for me anymore, im having weird side effects.) because honestly anyone who tries to argue with the pharmacist about changing it somehow is really just trying to get more. if you are lucky then they will like you and respect you.
example, i got prescribed something from my doctor that the pharmacy said they dont make anymore. and the one that they had in place was 120 dollars, and i have no insurance! i didn’t even have to ask them, but they took time out of their day to call my doctor and approve a different dosage at a cheaper price (12 dollars, yay!). If i had ever been rude or mean i would not be able to sleep now because i would not have my sleeping medicine. All in all, if you aren’t a junkie you have nothing to worry about. But also everyone needs to realize these people are BUSY and have tons to do, don’t rush them and they will take care of you =)

I was having my doctor fax over my rx to a target, even though now I was having Target fax it over to Safeway instead. It was my routine, I should have had the doctor directly fax it over to Safeway but it was working for me, and I didn’t want any confusion and was doing it for months. So Target called my doctor to “let them know” what I was doing. When I tried to get my rx from Safeway they said target called and said they spoke with my doctor and I can only fill it at Target and they wont give my rx I had with them. However Safeway ended up calling my doctor and he NEVER said that! There was some serious confusion too because my dr’s office called me and told me Target wouldnt fill for me prior to this incident, yet now target is saying only they can fill for me? I called target back to say hey, you are wrong. This was a class III medication btw. And actually safeway was trying to say I filled out a paper saying i would fill only at 1 pharmacy, i was like uh no i never sighned a paper like that. Here’s the thing a pharmacy can see all the medicine you fill, so they can obviously see I am getting 1 medicine from 1 dr the whole time, so what does it matter? Target should have just said to me how about you have your doctor send directly to safeway? But you know I never felt like they looked at me like a druggy or anything like that. I think you are self concious and you feel as though they are, but they really arent for the most part. Also hate that rule about it expiring after 6 months, I once lost half an rx because of that.

Some of the so called Professionals on this website really do worry me.They are obviously full of hatred
for the very people they are meant to be helping.I am SO , SO , glad that I do not have to live in America
where people with chronic illness and a legitimate need for pain relief are treated as criminals . Here in Europe codeine is freely available over the counter in measures up to 30 mg per pill in some member countries such as Spain. In England you can buy codeine pills that contain up to 15 mg of codeine phosphate per pill.Our Doctors are very understanding of chronic illness and will prescribe things like Oxycontin no problem IF it is needed and proven to be so. ( it will generally take at least a year of trying other meds and things like MRI scan before it comes to this) Patients are then allowed to reorder their repeat prescription after just 21 days in most surgeries, earlier in many .Of course if the patient then decides to take the piss and take too much of the drug the Doc soon catches on and reprimands them . As long as you are sensible and see your Doctor regularly there is no problem.Not many nasty Pharmacists here thankfully.All the ones I deal with are helpful and understanding.We can use any pharmacy we wish to. The pharmacy will even collect my prescription and deliver the pills to me if I so desire.No recriminations or evil looks,unless of course you take the piss with them ( try to abuse the system)
I go to Spain often and always stock up on various meds there because they are available over the counter.
Having a chronic pain illness is MISERY. Sometimes humans will take the odd extra pill even though they know the outcome will be bad.It is human nature.We are not all perfect.Please be kind to people.
I do not enjoy being in severe pain 24/7 .It has destroyed my life.If not for prescribed drugs like Oxycodone my life would be pointless.Yea, I have tried physiotherapy, exercise,operations and done everything my Doctor has told me to do.Sometimes only strong. Potent drugs will ease the pain.

Do you idiot pharmacists really come on here and exchange stupid stories about people and their drugs? Really? You all should be ashamed of yourselves sitting safely behind your computer snickering away. You all make me sick with your judgemental, childish comments…and they just prove what kind of despicable human beings you are. No wonder most people hate pharmacists. Get a life you stupid assholes and start rethinking your ways and how you treat people. Karma will bite you in the ass one day and I hope it takes a big chunk out of you. Jerks.

I think you are fed up with counting pills for a living, and probably should move on to something that makes you feel a little bit better about yourself. I think you are trying to be an authority to make you feel so much better about your life. I worked in a pharmacy when I was 16, I would count pills for the pharmacist, and file the rxs. I don’t ever remember telling a customer no on a refill. Maybe because it was 20 years ago, and things were different then. Who knows. I always felt bad for the sick and disabled. I hope you are never sick, or disabled in your lifetime. You are contributing to the heroin epidemic by not giving an inch, a couple days early on a med is not unheard of. Why should a patient have to wait till they are out, or close to it? That is just insane. You call their doc, get them in trouble, no more meds, onto the street corner, or online pharmacies to get something better, and easier than following the rules.

I never in my life thought of any pharmacist as an asshole, maybe here in Ireland where I live pharmacists are just nicer. That blog didn’t come across in anyway someone who is nice themselves. The use of F words and the fact that you are writing horrible things about people. Maybe instead of judging them and trying to get them out of your store as fast as possible, you should try to help them. If they are in every week and you know that they abusing the system, why not talk to them how you want everyone to talk to you. Tell them you know what they are doing but tell them you can help, I’m sure in your pharmacy you have, numbers or posters in which people can seek help, give them that. But whining about them will not help them or you. I have to say I have never had bad service from any pharmacy here and never heard anyone say anything bad either. It is strange that there are so many pharmacists on here complaining so much. I work in retail myself and I have to let you know that this happens everywhere, not just to you guys, but like most people who have bills to pay and mouths to feed we just get on with it. When is applied for a job selling things to people I knew that I would get people who shout or complain or cause a hendrance in some way, that comes with the job, but I accept it and get on with my life in one week at work I might get 1 or 2 people who are going to try and get me down or make my job feel like hell on earth, but I also get hundreds of really nice genuine people. So maybe instead of making a blog just to cast judgement on people you could make a blog where you help the same people you are talking about. Give out information, websites, who they can talk to, telephone numbers . I mean you have a good platform already, there seems to be quite a lot of people who found this blog you could use that to reach out.

I think people are forgetting to tell why they are really upset, the post of the man who talked of hating the fact he needs these pills to exist speaks volumes for all of us, don’t we all feel that way. I do not mind that my pharmacist has to call and check, only supply me when its due, I understand you need to protect yourself and by doing so you protect my ability to come here every month and get the medication I so desperately need. What makes me upset is the stereo types, the price gauging, forcing my doctor to write multiple medications for me that I do not need. The amount of medication I get is minimal. I take 60 roxy and 60 mscontin a month, I also take naproxen, fioricet if needed for migraines and gabapentin for neuropathy. When my pharmacy tells me after seven years that I must have four non narcotics to fill each one of my narcotics I have to wonder how is that right, you will knowingly force my doctor to make up medication I do not need and that’s okay! You tell patients that DEA is forcing you to do this but when we call the DEA they laugh and say mam we could never make you take medication to fill another that’s absurd. So where do we stand, believe are pharmacist is being bullied by our government to force these things or be shut down or believe are government when they say that’s crazy you need to speak to your congressman we can do nothing about them using our name to black male you every month. My pharmacy will only take cash? That alone makes me question you. I am no criminal, I do not sell my drugs, I need my drugs for now to function, so if I get upset that I have to pay an additional 300.00 today its not because I am not a human and think your an ass, its because I know that I cannot work, take care of my family, drive a car or even get out of bed without them, not to mention because these drugs are physically addictive I will scream in pain, vomit, shit myself, shake, sweat and have to call an ambulance when my blood pressure gets to high for comfort. So please understand we are individuals paying the price for many idiots who caused this great pandemic. Do you want to see what all of this has done. Check the state stats in Florida for heroin arrests and deaths from 1995 until 2011, it was almost obsolete. Now check the current stats, WOW are you surprised. The deaths now are three times what they were from pain medication. and the rest are in the state methadone clinic. So has it really helped at all. These methadone clinics do not taper them off, they even increase them, so tell me again you are trying to help us, The money has just moved around and death rate is higher. A dope addict cannot tell if the needle or powder he has is a certain milligram. The majority of prescription overdoses were due to illicit drugs or alcohol abuse in conjunction with the medication, this is why my doctor urine test his patients. There has to be away to control these problems without hurting everyone. If a doctor has to pill count then so be it but it has to get better than this, and another thing, If your getting your medication then selling your drugs on the streets you are at fault, you did this, you bullshit the doctors, you bullshit the pharmacist you can pay the price, cancer patients and people who need their medication should not have to pay the price. Don’t tell me you don’t carry that medication and then fill the guy behind me, Don’t tell me I have to have 4 chronic non narcotics to fill each of my narcotics, Don’t change the price every month I come here until I cannot afford it anymore. Who else but a drug dealer can come into your establishment a drop 1800 cash Hmmmmm. Law abiding people are forced to commit a crime to survive. So If your one of these pharmacist, that’s why people like me get upset. If it walks like a duck!

Thank you Chrissy! Very well said. I didn’t know you had to have some sort of ratio of narcotic to non narcotic meds when getting them from a pharmacy. I wonder if it’s a state thing. I’m in michigan and have never heard such a thing. That’s total bullshit though. You’re so right about everything, I am one in this struggle as well and I have to say, the pharmaceutical industry certainly has us by the tits.

Okay – I have to respond. I know that this is REALLY old but, Alas, the issue at hand is still at large! The fact that there are addicts is always going to be a problem, a blip on the screen that is society, if you will. The majority of people that are addicts, however, aren’t addicts by choice. Most of us (yes, myself included) have been prescribed these demons because we have needed them at one point and then have all but been cut off of them for some reason or the other. My reason happens to be: Lack of insurance. I was no longer able to see my doctor, therefore I couldn’t get a legit prescription anymore. We all know what came next. To the streets I went to try to find the medicine and my oh my was it readily available. I never took the medicine to get “high” and I have never once felt a “euphoric” feeling. It stopped my pain and stopped me from S****** all over myself day in and day out. Oh, it also helped me to be able to go to sleep, stay asleep, wake up, get out of the bed, eat, you know, all of those things that people have to do on a daily basis but don’t think about it (unless they are addicted to narcotics). Anyways, I finally got back to a doctor who was prescribing my pills (again) so I just became even more addicted. So, once my pain was semi under control, I decided to come off of the pain medicine and I didn’t want to have to wait such a long time to do it through my doctor, So, off to the methadone clinic I went! I dutifully pay my $11 dollars a day and go stand in that long line to be herded in and out of a little room like a bunch of cattle. All of us looked upon as the next resident addicted bovine. It’s quite sickening. The nurses at the clinic work in what they call the “pharmacy” and you get those that actually act like humans and then there is the one in the bunch that looks at you like you are the ilk of the earth. Scum. She actually treats you like you are there to get high! ALL of us. Now, I wasn’t born yesterday and I am not naive enough to believe that everyone on Methadone is there for the right reasons, but a lot of us are and we aren’t there to get our next fix because it’s cheaper and easier and we can get it all at one time. I know that some people are, but I’m NOT ONE OF THEM. I use it for what it is supposed to be used for. I’ve been on it since July of last year and I have decided to detox myself. I have them bringing me down 2mg a week and will continue until I’m done. I can’t wait. What is the point behind this, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. When I first came to the clinic on Intake day I went to see the doctor and she had my urine results back. I tested positive for not only OXYcodone (which I was prescribed) but also HYDROchodone and Suboxone. Now, I have NEVER taken suboxone in my life, yet this doctor was sitting here telling me that it was in my urine and that I DID TAKE IT because “You don’t know what you bought off of that pill dealer on the street yesterday”. Uhm, EXCUSE ME Ms.Ididntlistentoathingyousaidbecauseiknowitallandimabiasedbitch, but did you hear a word that I said?! I go to a DOCTOR. a legitimate doctor who prescribes me 360 oxycodone 30mg IR a month. I don’t need to buy anything from someone on the street. You need to be testing me again. I even showed her my bottle which she tried to say that “anyone can fake a prescription bottle if they want to fool someone bad enough”. oh, I was so pissed that I just walked out of there. I eventually went to another clinic and told them what happened and they fixed it. But, I was pissed. Rightly so. I didn’t come to the clinic because I was a junkie looking for my next fix, I wanted to come DOWN on some of the medicine that I was on each day! I was taking 12 pills a day and I could barely move because I was such a zombie. The methadone has helped me TREMENDOUSLY, and I only need a couple a week now, when I really over do it. So, yes, methadone can be a good thing. It isn’t a pain cure, by any means, not the stuff at the clinic anyways, but it helped me cut back on the majority of my pills each month. Yes, I still taken them AS NEEDED and I found that, with the methadone, I don’t NEED them to just do daily functions. And even though I’m detoxing off of the methadone, I still don’t need more pain medicine than I’m taking now. Again, 1-2 a WEEK. So, for me, that’s damn good and I’ll take it. Now – onto the pharmacy (walgreens) *sigh* I am my Mother’s HPOA and her DPOA. I get her medicine filled every month and every month – I get them 4 days early. Why? Because that’s the day the REST of her meds are ready to be picked up. I don’t WANT to have to go back and forth to pharmacies all the time ( I do have a life you know) so when I ask for them to be filled so I can pick them up at the same time as the others, thats EXACTLY what I mean. I don’t mean that I stole them or she took too many or she’s selling them, I mean that it is more convenient for ME to get them then, than have to drive the 32 miles to pick them up a few days later when I can just pick them up at the same time. Hell, I’ve been reduced to bringing my moms bottle with me with her meds in them when I go to get them early – so that they can see that yes, she still has PLENTY of medicine – but it just makes it easier on me to pick them up early. I don’t need to be given the 3rd degree. We get the SAME MEDICINE every single month. All 32 of her prescriptions are the same. They don’t change. But when the doctor was playing around with the correct pain regimine it was awful. Because he would change it every 4 weeks almost and even though she may not be due for a refill then (they had the new prescription that the doctor had just written) they still had to fill it. You could see the look in their eyes. The pharmacist actually denied her medicine to her once because she didn’t have the others to bring back EVEN THOUGH, her doctor SPECIFICALLY wrote that these pills were IN ADDITION to her pills already prescribed. It was a nightmare and still is. The pharmacist comes out each month and gives the same spiel.” its too early, you should have plenty, where is your other bottle? Have you counted? how many are left”. I have to answer these questions for my mom and it just makes me more and more angry. Just fill the damn prescription already! Its been 3 years now that it’s been this. I’d imagine it is going to stay the same! The technicians all stop and stare at the counter because the little “consultation” window is right there beside the register where there is NO thought to privacy. Every month they end up having to give me the medicine and looking like jackasses, so you would THINK that they would just do it and save them the heartache. its stupid really. What makes them think that they know more than a doctor does? Riddle me that.

The rants of the pharmacists here are so narrow minded and make it transparent that they view practically everyone as some kind of druggie…For your info, I actually did have my prescription stolen, right out of my luggage. It was a bottle of Ambien. They also took some jewelry and a 3.8 oz jar of La Mer, which is almost $500. I called the pharmacy to refill it after we got back from holiday. It was actually just a few days early anyway. The pharmacist was really rude and I didn’t argue with him about having to wait. I just said ok. Then he said if I bring him a police report he might be able to do something. Long story short, US Airways never mentioned doing that. So I called the police and by doing that, found out our home owners insurance covered everything that was stolen! It was wonderful! So, I called the pharmacy back to thank the pharmacist for suggesting we file a police report. Was telling him about all the valuables and how the airline was being a bit of a butt etc..,Anyway, the pharmacist could not have been more rude. It’s hard to explain bc it was his tone and the inflection he used with certain words, but I know he thought I was lying. By this time, 3 days had passed and my refill was due and I took it somewhere else. Does he think I have nothing better to do than call him up to thank him for fun? How jaded are these ppl? I think they are on drugs.

I agree that some of the pharmacists (or pretend pharmacists), were those kids on the school ground that were bully’d, unpopular, and never fit in, that later in life try to bully back. As a RN, MSN, compassion and caregiving is the reason you get into the medical field. When I was a newby-30 years ago, I promised myself never to get tainted and become grinch like, and if I did, get out. I have lived by that, in addition to a very compassionate upbringing of tolerance and lack of judgement for those shoes I haven’t walked in. It reminds me of a job I had before I finished my Bachelors in collections. Those that were collecting past due mortgages back then would be on power trips and use scare tactics to get payments in. I even found myself getting on a power trip a time or two before I “checked” myself and got out. I don’t think you can teach self -reflection and the ability to look in the mirror and your own faults. Its clear many do not possess this skill. Many remind me of the tacky parents you’d spend the night at your friends house and be shocked at how their families gossiped and got off on putting down others. A clear reflection of low values, ethics and morality. I would be shocked if any new a church if it bit them in the butt. Its all for power tripping. Pharmacists used to be a respected profession, now a days, the public doesn’t respect them, or consider them any part of the medical team. Confidentiality is critical for me as a nurse and my opinions about patients are kept to myself, and free of judgement because I am Not in their shoes. I treat everyone the same- like a VIP! I am extremely proud that I was taught never to stoop to the level of tacky, judgemental and arrogant. I have a very blessed life, both financially, and spiritually. I wouldn’t dream of some of the comments made here, because they wouldn’t be in my mind! Compassion and understanding and confidential, would be in my mind! Shame on you..

If you don’t like your job then try mine. Two hunderd pages of computer core dump to analyze and I don’t go around torturing people in pain like you do. So why don’t go grow up and get off your high horse a-hole?

I’ve knocked my pill bottle into the sink on more than one occasion, so I’m bummed that I’ll be thought of as a drug addict because 2 or 3 pills went down the sink…..but I understand the liars wreck it for others….

i am not the only one that has had to start counting my meds before leaving the pharmacy parking lot.You cant sit there and re count them on the counter,think of the people watching ..the germs, I take my meds accordinly as perscribed.but after a few times of not having the amount I should of for the last day befor goinf back to the doctors,I knew I should of had,1 pill for each medicines I take,,Noticing this three times,I found I was not the only one missing one to 2 or 3 days of certains medsso i would wait.when I was called to pick script up I would tell them to please recount it. it agavates the pharmacy’s and the tech assistance..well befor I blow the whistle on this pharmacy,they better back up, cause my pain clinic has never called me in for a pill count,cause Iam trust worthy of taking my meds .but if I ever got called in and was short..who do you think this pain doctor is going to believe ? so snap that cap and count those pills.because if you go to a pain managment doctor,and get let go..you will always have a stigma on your back,,and YES you will find it very very hard to just say to your self.I just want a family doctor,someone who really cares about me abd my health and how My body is getting older,…But you wont get in to a reguler doctor.because of this stigma ..and They call it shopping for a doctor,and yes you will be wanting to rip someones head off,,so count those pills

Seriously how fucking useless is a pharmacist. Please tell me what you do that a God damn vending machine couldn’t and what you know that anybody couldn’t google in 10 seconds. Your profession is doomed. You’re a judgmental and absolutely superfluous piece of shit.

You pharmacists (a generalization) are the most self centered a holes ever. You know people rely on your ompliance and that you can jerk them around on a chain to get your jollies. Go get laid or something you rejects.

touche” I love your post Jim, sorry you are in pain and dependent too..they just don’t get it but maybe they will be lucky enough to go through a situation like yours one day and need opiates to survive.. then we will see a different attitude I assure you!
feel better..JoJo

I just discovered this blog tangentially via Google … I wondered if you are aware of any grassroots organizations that exist to reform pharmaceutical laws (and also standardize them across all states), so that they favor legitimate pain patients, legitimate purchasers of Sudafed, et al, rather than go overboard trying to save junkies, prevent meth manufacture, et cetera?

Im glad to see so many angry pharmacists. I am an angry patiens. I have had three spine surgeries, 20 or more esi”s, brain aneurys, etc.. For some reason, my pharmacist acts like an asshole. I have had to change them three times. I am friendly, reasonable, etc. So what is up with that? I know, you are tired of all the assholes…right? Well, I am tired of all my pain and don’t want another brain aneurysm. Maybe you can think about that.

Im so glad the rage has gone full circle on your system. who played who? i was forced to take stimulants until i was a legal adult. Guess whos making millions off of both psychiatrists and patients alike? ive never wished death on anyone, but i have seen enough. at 26 years old, i wish for you to stop feeding the demons who gave you this opportunity to fuck every country in their wake, and go off yourself. otherwise im not going to stop breathing until this comes true. maybe its a good thing phsychiatry has chosen its own demise. hellions

Ok NOW let me tell YOU some things. First off a little background. I take care of a sick, terminally ill and disabled patient that takes pain meds. It is RIDICULOUS what she has to go through to get her quality of life medication every month.

1.We’re lied to almost all day : I understand that, but not everyone lies to you. Some of us ( speaking for the patient )are legit, so dont punish us because of some idiots. That’s not fair, professional or ethical

2.We are people to : Good. So act like it. The only time I get forward or aggressive is when the pharmacist acts holier than thou and says things like “Oh well, there’s nothing I can do”.

3.If you /only/ pick up : This doesnt help. Pain med patients and their caretakers already get tired of the stigma of feeling like criminals when they come in. Why would you give someone uncomfortable looks. I read this one 3 times to make sure and correct me if im wrong but it looks like when someone gets sched 2 meds you automatically give them “looks”?

4.If you are going to sell : Ok this one, I agree with you on. Its stupid people like that that mess it up for patients like mine.

5.If you have the balls to pick up your : Once again I agree, see number 4.

6.When I have to tell you : Agreed here as well.

So in all honesty I agree with most of these but the first 2 are silly. Punishing legit people like my patient as I said is wrong.

I have had plenty of great experiences with pharmacists and their techs, however, the only bad experience I’ve had was VERY bad. I dropped my script off with the tech, but my husband went to pick my medication up when it was ready for me because I was busy. My husband comes home and tells me how when he was paying for the prescription, the tech looked at the computer screen, read it for a few seconds, and then looked at him and said VERY LOUDLY for all waiting around the counter to hear, “Was your wife pregnant? Why was she on this medication during her pregnancy? I cant believe someone aloud that to happen. What was she thinking?”. I husband, being the smart man he is, had done his research long before that, and explained to the tech, VERY LOUDLY for all to hear, how if she knew anything about the medication, she would know that it is the only type of its kind that is proven to not hurt the fetus in any way. He then told her that she needs to leave the concern to the doctor and that her 6 week course would not of taught her anything to make it ok for her to have any sort of input on the subject.

I can totally understand how some pharmacists could be a bit jaded over medication… I’m sure it does get annoying dealing with people who are addicted to their medication… however, it is important to stay professional no matter what, and if they have some sort of problem maybe they should take note and bring it up to that customers prescribing doctor. If a customer is clearly acting like a drug addict, and abusing their medication, and the pharmacist is making it their job to watch out for those people, then I’m sure notifying the doctor would help prevent those certain customers from being able to do any of the crap they try to bull. I don’t know, I’m just a chronic pain sufferer, who goes month to month, going in and out of my pharmacy. I never request my meds early. I get my prescriptions filled every 30 days EXACTLY. So, my pharmacist likes me…haha..sorry for all the rambling on.

My asshole of a pharmacist thinks I’m getting to many subutexs a month. 84 to be exact and valium with it and even refused to fill it. Long story short I called Albertsons Corp phone and got her canned. Don’t act like you guys know more than the doctor about what a patient is going through.

I had this pharmacist refusing to fill my prescription of 84 subutex because she believe that was way to many excspically mixed with valium. After arguing over and over with her again I had to call the corporate phone line and told them my story. Long story short they released that pharmacist and I could get my pills in peace. Why do you guys think you can say no to someone’s prescription when the doctor that prescribed it knows a million times better than what you guys claim to know?

I’ve seen my meds short a lot and made them count or when I was have rhuematoid arthritis flare the hospital nurse give me an injection and give me saline had my doc drug test me after injection and proved it. People can judge but have no idea of pain. You shouldn’t judge do your job.

Your rant proves conclusively that you are, in fact, a complete asshole. We all face frustrations in our jobs, and I have no doubts about the events you describe, but your semi-grammatical, hate- and obscenity-filled ramblings constitute world-class assholery.

What about people who are compliant, respectful. People who have gone to CVS 5 years? One day different pharmacist, refused to fill but lied about why; kept saying it was ins. Call insurance, nope not them. Find out later it was just that pharmacist. Found another, pharmacy, no problem. If a pharmacist has a problem, if there is a red flag, say so. Thank you for sharing.

I’m an RN a friend just told me a pharmacist told her “Celexa yeah back and have some side effects if you’re worried about it take half for a few days then bump yourself up to the prescribed amount when you’re comfortable” with this ever happen? Before I start worrying about this person misleading me I want to know if this is standard practice. I didn’t think so, but it would help to hear how that kind of advice may come about from Pharmacy.

Hey everyone, you’re directing your rage at the wrong people. Pharmacists are just following state (and federal) laws and they’d lose their jobs if they didn’t. Understand that this absolutely out-of-control ridiculous maze of delays, short orders, arbitrary quantity limits, multiple trips to the pharmacy….all of these pieces of pointless dysfunctional chaos , all of it originates off the tip of a pen or keystroke in some 15th floor state drug enforcement bureaucrat’s office.

These people don’t give a shit how their public relations crusade to end Rx pill abuse only drives up the price for those who are going to obtain pills illegally anyway, and it’s is crystal clear they also have not a fleeting thought, not 2 seconds of consideration for the needless, preventable misery thousands of law abiding citizens–responsibly filling and taking prescriptions written by their doctors–endure year after year because of state drug regulations.

It gets better, this is my favorite part: the state pill police don’t even operate with a contingency plan when the drugs they deliver don’t meet the pharmacy’s needs/requested drugs and doses. Just be thankful you don’t take a CS because if your pharmacy doesn’t have it in stock, THE PHARMACIST CANT EVEN CONFIRM THAT WHEN THE ORDER IS RECEIVED, IT WILL CONTAIN THE QUANTITY OR EXACT MEDICATION WRITTEN ON THE SCRIPT THE DOCTOR GAVE YOU AND YOU HANDED TO YOUR PHARMACIST. I am not making this up, I recently picked the brain of a pharmacist as to why the process is mindlessly slow and just so bizarre.

These smug arrogant nanny-state pill police decide how much of what CS each pharmacy gets–because heaven knows that bureaucrats from the state must decide what is a proper amount to bestow upon us little people, us idiots too stupid and helpless to avoid killing ourselves by swallowing as many pills we can get, bottles at a time. And what about the doctors? Are they too stupid not to be completely overruled by the final discretion of the state drug bureaucrats? Is there some nefarious physician conspriacy to flood the streets with pills? They’re simply aiding-and-abetting medical-cranks just drooling over their Rx pads to see how many thousands of pain pills they can pump out to their patients?

Pharmacists, you guys and gals do a great job, and we know you lose your jobs if you don’t absolutely enforce state drug regulations. Government is not the solution, GOVERNMENT IS THE PROBLEM.

I agree with you angry pharma. I’m a person with permanent nerve damage in my spine and nothing they can do anymore . To correct it other then take my medication like ordered . At first I would get weird looks but after a few months of getting my Medes worked out on what to take and when they realized I was not a person asking to get medication early other then when leaving town to take care of my grand father that’s 96 and would have a doctors note explaining my problem maybe a week early at most. People that act like there dog eat there home work makes it bad on the people that need it the most. I understand your anger and they don’t realize you have put your a#% on the line and have to answer to the police and Doctor and insurance constantly . Also if your honest it all there for you to see so if you go to three different doctors for the same thing the police will be nocking at there door . People with real problems have to sign a contract with there doctor stating that you are responsible for you meds not the doctor or the pharmacy. So remember if they end up in some kids hands or you give them or sell them you will be arrested. Thank you for you honest work and for being a real person trying to help people that really need help.

Um here in pa simply ever mentioning picking up pain meds even a day early for convenience because you have children and a very busy life will get them takin off of you and be damn near impossible to ever get prescribed them again. Shit I got eye fucked for simply trying the brand name ones once to see if they work better cause my generic ones definitely are noticeably not as strong

These doctors and Pharmacists and the government I just a legal Monopoly and they have no real right to tell anybody what to take or what not to take. People should be free to take any medication that they like any time they please. If you think that the government cares about people just look at how much tobacco and alcohol tax that they get cut in arm. Actually the wealthy ruling class on the government think that they own people and that is why that they do not want their slaves to take whatever drugs. Prohibiting people to take drugs and implies ownership. It’s just that they do not want interfere with the lower class to produce wealth for the ruling class medical doctors in the government. We paying patients need our own organization. We need to cause blowback to these drug Warriors.

Not only that I can recall one time when I CVS in West Springfield Massachusetts shorted me of 100 Hydromorphone pills. After I complain they admitted the error and did give it back to me but it just goes to show that they are not so perfect as they think. CVS did compensate me for my Transportation cost to go back there. I wonder why CVS in West Springfield Massachusetts didn’t call the DEA on that action. Maybe they just wanted to forget about it. But sometimes I wonder where they really trying to just keep a hundred Hydromorphone pills.

Yeah sure here’s an angry reply. How about the shithead pharmacist who canceled a 30 day refill on my clonazepam 1 mg simply because my doctor gave me one fucking script for 15 fucking tabs of halcion for an unusual situation I had never before faced. So the shithead pharmacist decides arbitrarily to take away one refill from a 3-month supply and only gives me two months. And when I explained I could go into withdrawals from not having the clonazepam she just shrugs and says there’s nothing she can do. If you guys are hated you sure as hell deserve to be hated because most of you are on a power trip and you don’t care who you hurt. Rot in hell.

I’m on holiday, I left my gsbapentin prescription on the ferry in scotland. Spoke to a temp doctor who says she won’t give me replacement meds. I’m only needing 8 days worth. I’ve been told its dangerous to stop taking gsbapentin esp the ode I’m on.600mg 3 times a day. I’ve been 2 days now without my meds (nerve damage) and I’m in agony.

It’s not always (just) about it being a narcotic. Corporate pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens have wayyyy too much market share. I don’t know if it’s about too many customers or too little attention to who they hire, but the result is the same: bad service. In the old days, pharmacies and doctor offices actually talked to each other instead of pointing fingers and making excuses. Nowadays at high-volume drive through pharmacies, there will be a problem with non-narcotic prescriptions bout 50% of the time and a problem with a narcotic prescription about 80% of the time. You’d expect more problems with the added layer of bureaucracy associated with narcotics.

Well thankfully this has happened to me only once and I’ve never tried to pick this medication up early because I have looked and researched the rules about buprenorphine but I’ve had problems with one pharmacist that works at Wal-Mart pharmacy in flipping arkansas. One time he would not fill my script it wasn’t a refill it was because I couldn’t pay for it all at one time and I was even past the date I was supposed to get it filled so I called the pharmacy board in arkansas and they got it fixed. I think I am going to have to do it again because last month the guy said i had forged my prescription before and I just got it filled there the month before and I wouldn’t forge a prescription even if I knew how. Well they even called my doctor office to make sure it was okay and person even wrote the persons name who works at the doctors office verified it was okay. The wrote that on the prescription. The guy still wouldn’t do. So a couple weeks later because I felt like the guy was just mad because the pharmacy board had called him and told him to fill my script that one time, I decided to take it up with a manager at Wal-Mart and they told me their pharmacy manager had retired and haven’t replaced him yet and if I had anymore problems about this guy saying that I had forged or wouldn’t fill my prescription to call one of them up there and they would take care of it. My dad went today and he had forgot what I told him about the manager going to talk to him. They wouldn’t even take it today because of what that guy said about me one time. Can a pharmacist help me with this situation. I know how bad it can be for you guys to deal with some people and it sickens me that people act like that but I never have. I even took it last month to a nearby Walgreens and they filled it within 15 minutes. I thought when something had been forged that they call the law. How do i fix this so I don’t have to travel 20 miles to get a script filled. Do i call the pharmacy board again? Do I just go to a manager like the one Maher told me?

What bugs me about this is that a pharmisist is only there too distribute the medications…Your not a doctor, and there fore have no authority to determine if someone your just meeting should have there meds…personally I’m on Suboxone. I’m actually going on a vacation on tuesday, taking a bus with a ticket already paid for by family, to leave on the 23rd and return on the 5th…Guess what?? I need my Suboxone early…Why??? Cause I see him tomorrow the 21st, leave the 23rd, and don’t return till the 5th…know when I run out?? The 27th…Guess what else? I have Medicaid in my state to lay for my meds…Medicaid in this state is not useable in the state I’m going too…So this means I have to fill it tomorrow, 5 or 6 days early on a 28 day supply….But will I get it??? Only if the pharmacist doesn’t say I have cancel my trip and not use a ticket that cost 200 bucks that’s not refundable. So yeah, you guys can can complain about the ones who really are just being dicks, but what about me when I run out of my meds on my trip and then go in to severe withdrawal, and then hit the street looking for dope all because a pharmisist I trust to fill my meds didn’t wanna listen to the DOCTORS orders.

Even after ten years, nothing’s changed. Drug addicts polluting the air inside the pharmacy and vomiting shit through their mouths about why they HAVE to ask for anything that has codeine in it because, funnily enough, nothing else seems to work and the doctors just said ‘yeah go for it.’ Same old bullshit, drug addicts will always remain the same.

Don’t get me wrong, I know there are some who have suffered from drug addiction before, and have put in tremendous effort to overcome it and eventually came out on top. Those kind of people I can understand, even respect. It’s the shitheads who still dick around fully aware of their own actions and doesn’t even try to make an effort to take that first step in the right direction that I hate. No wonder some of the doctors label them as SPOS. Aptly termed, for the shitheads who do nothing but steal oxygen.

Why the government doesn’t just grow some fucking balls (and brains, because lord knows they’re in great need of some) and actually classify codeine products as prescription only, AS THEY WERE ALWAYS BLOODY MEANT TO BE. Then again, what can you expect, seems like they always cherry pick the dumbest of the lot to play politics.

This website’s just pure awesome. I get to read hilarious rants about drug addicts and/or general stupidity (often they go hand-in-hand – figures). Wish us pharmacists were actually entitled to freedom of speech – that way we can always just call out on addicts for their bullshit and tell them to actually fuck off.

Fun fact of the day: did you know that pharmacists have short life expectancies due to prolonged exposure to drug addicts’ carcinogenic bullshit and sob stories? And general stupidity? Unfortunately there is no cure for this condition, and seems like symptom management involves excessive consumption of alcohol and telling the world where to fuck off.

actually pharmacists are assholes, if 1 patient tries to scam the system ALL PATIENTS PAY THE PRICE, im tired of being treated like a no good scumbag junkie by my pharmacist, im on pain management and on the lowest doses of drugs possible, 5mg and every time the pharmacist has a bad day i get treated likexshit and told how i have extras , i came in a day early yada yada, when in truth i had my dr wait 1 extra day so nothing was messed up so my LORDSHIP THE FUCKING KING pharmacist wont get mad at me!!!!, WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH AND COMPASSION, 4 YEARS AND I STILL GET TREATED LIKE GARBAGE WHENEVER THE PHARMACIST IS HAVING A BAD DAY! 4 YEARS OF SMILING AND SAYING NO PROBLEM EVERY TIME I AM FORCED TO WAIT AN EXTRA DAY FOR MY SCRIPTS!!!

Well just because you guys have had the people who abuse drugs or skip from one pharmacy to another doesn’t mean we are all like that. I had a pharmacist tell me straight to my face yes your insurance will cover it, YES ITS BEEN 29 DAYS BUT I DON’T FEEL LIKE GIVING IT TO YOU! CVS ACTUALLY!! THEN I GO TO ANOTHER CHAIN PLACE WITH RUDE, JUDGEMENTED AND THINKING IM A LOSER CUZ OF MY MEDS. THEY DID IT TO BE A BULLY!! ITS IN THE PHARMACY HANFH AND THEY DO AS THEY WANT. THEY TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THERE POWER CUZ US PEOPLE/CUSTOMER’S, YOU GUYS KNOW WE CAN’T DO SHIT ABOUT IT. DON’T BE A PHARMACY TECK IF YOU WANT TO MAKE OTHERS FEEL LIKE SHIT. THE FUTURE IT MIGHT BE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE!!¡

If you want to be treated like a human, act like one you cocky pile of shit. You fucking count pills and put on labels, stop acting like you know whats best for people. If you did, you’d be a doctor, not some fucking scrub pharmacy douche who makes under 50k a year. You know why you do that job? Because your attitude landed you there. Shut the fuck up and peel labels, because its the most responsibility society will let you have. You think it’s funny to deny people meds, Nobody fucking asked your opinion. If you spoke to me the way you have here, I wouldn’t let that dumb looking fuckin coat stop me from reminding you why you make shit money in a shit job. You deserve it. Get fucked, and while your’e at it, try not to crow about making peoples lives miserable. You count pills. I dont care if you went for school for 22 years to learn how to do it. It just shows how far reality is from YOUR world…8 years to make sub 50k salary dealing with the dregs of society. Here it comes.. those people you call losers for having certain meds, were smart enough to get em free. Smart enough to know 8 years isn’t worth their time for shitty job they can’t stand, for shit money. Congrats on making it harder for chronic pain patients, I bet in some convoluted way you think you are helping them by doing this. You arent.. in fact you are forcing some of them back into addiction. So, in summary.. eat a dick, label some bottles, and go fuck yourself. Signed..tired of wannabee doctors who aren’t allowed to practice medicine until they find someone disadvantaged to pick on. I hope someday you have to make a choice between being deathly sick, or becoming one of the people you fuck with. Keep this one small bit of wisdom in mind. Before you do someone dirty.. go out of your way to do it.. make fucking A sure you aren’t going to have to rely on that person at some point. Life is funny, you know. you could be in serious trouble, a car accident, ect..might be, the guy who stops, suffered through hell at your whim. Maybe he doesn’t even stop. But maybe he does, just to remind you that he is better than you despite your rotten attitude and his addiction. Just to remind you that real people have real problems. Like the vehicle lying on your chest.

I mean you guys are made for each other. you forced him to buy street drugs and so he became an addict of the next caliber. And he helped build your shitty attitude, so you could become an underpaid fuckhole and end up the same place we all do.. dead. I wonder if there are people out there who still have fuckin brains, or do they get em prescribed at your pharmacy and get screwed? Instead of brains they doubled down on some bogo extra chromosones at the register? ere you born in the bathroom?

Addicts can adapt. its what they fucking do. You can’t even begin to compete with an addicts ability to deal with things on the fly. But, your’e stuck in the drive-through pharm window grudgingly doing a job you hate, and you can’t even change it without losing the time invested. Tell me again who the fucking dumbass is. Also, can you honestly say youv’e made a try at being a better, less judgemental person? The addict has a habit, but odds are they have tried at one point to change their life, to make it better.. which is more than you can hope for window boy.;
The big reveal…you have a job selling the drugs that seed addictions. And blaming the addict for your life sucking.

And your’e an addict too, aren’t ya? You thrive on conflict. You see yourself as better than them in every way.. when in reality your’e an underpaid drug dealer. And you aren’t even good at THAT. You go out of your way to make sure others suffer..the addict suffers alone.

Bottom line.. It doesn’t matter what road you take, they all lead to the same place at the other end. Will you be able to look back and say you enjoyed life? That your efforts were noble; and not petty and self-serving? Will you be able to honestly say you were a professional? That.. even though your role in life carried more status than the lowly addict..he probably was more dedicated and serious about what he did than you were? I wonder who had the most fun before their premature exit from this shit hole world. The person who spent time judging? Or the person who spent time being judged. Premature because, you will probably die early from stress caused by addicts, right? But I can only hope there is a special pharmacy in hell where high-handed pharmacists have to sit outside their own places of business and wait eternally, and feel the pain of every person who didn’t meet your fucking crackerjack box criteria to be able to get meds that were needed. Every broken hip, every case of fucking stage 4 cancer, every sad soul dying a slow horrible death.. they won’t be alone. You will be there to answer to them, as you feel what they felt. You, the hero of the disenchanted worker, who causes hardships to innocent people. You, the same one and only that handed them the drugs that started them on the entire mess, but denied when they tried to get better. You, who doesn’t comprehend the mis-guided sense of morality is thinly veiled, that your motive was never morality. It is in fact superiority. I truly hope that when you arrive in hell, the pharmacists awaiting you are your former patients.

Looks to me like the only way you will ever escape this cycle will be to develop some sort of compassion for people, regardless of how they got where they are now. Good luck finding it. You are as morally bankrupt as the addict is literally.
He has an excuse, Tie..

You rail at these people all week and then go home and sit on the couch and knock back 2 30 packs of beer, and feel superior. Then its off to fuck the floppy-titted cow in your bed. Gotta give it to the addict girls on this one..they dont have bingo wings and opinions on who they should have married. It’s all about the stigma. Examine life sometime, instead of just being a fucking passenger. Learn something from your mistakes and strive to be a better person for the right reasons. Or you know, just, continue being oblivious to the fact that you and the addict are forever opposite sides of the same old bullshit. Inextricably linked, forever the bane of the other’s existence. Both forever trapped in your respective worlds with not much hope of things getting better..making fully aware and conscious BAD choices which lead you to even worse things..being stupid enough to shame others without taking your own inadequacies into account. Spending all your recsorces (mental, emotional, OR physical) to buy into negative bullshit that turns you into less of a person. And meeting each other eternally, obliviously, and hating each other across a pane of pharmacy glass. does the addict see himself or does he see you? Who do you see, tie? You see a path taken that society told you to avoid. drugs. The addict sees what he could have had.. a job, a career, a home.
Point being, good luck torturing an addict. they will laugh and spit in your face. You have nothing to show them, that they are not acutely aware of already.
His world, on the other hand, is a mystery to you.. the sheep who decided to do what society told him. The sheep who cries about his job being hard because addicts. You sleeping in a ditch tonight with withdrawal and hunger? The only withdrawal you know is to get money from an ATM to feed your sweat hog, safe-bet-she-won’t -leave, sperm whale wife, guzzle down more legal drugs, and point self righteous fingers at sick people. You pick on the diseased, the dying, the people who have walk the road you wouldn’t fucking dare to. The addict knows the truth. You are a coward. He isn’t perfect. But he doesn’t pretend to be someone he isn’t with ideals that make no sense. He knows where the road leads, both ways. And he knows deep down inside how much you regret having had to work, while you point fingers and claim lazy. There is something to be said for accepting who you are. It doesn’t make you right.. but at least you know where you stand with regard to your treatment of other people. It couldn’t hurt.

also, giving people ‘looks’ for using a different pharmacy for some meds is unprofessional as all fuck. Who the fuck do you think you are, a fucking investment banker? ‘They jumped ship’ Huh, wonder WHY asshole?
And by the way, just what the FUCK are you doing asking people to bring back old meds? Did you pay for those meds? Nope. Did you prescribe them? Nope./ Are we supposed to take the word of someone who openly admits he plays games with people he suspects are addicts despite holding a professional position, but failing miserably to actually ACT professional.. to take our unused meds, and throw them away. You don’t have a fucking right to ask people to bring back meds, period. Its a breach of ethics and I hope you got fired for it. Addict. That’s what police drug take-back programs are for. Because those guys are bonded by the state, not Fuckberry college for dimwits who didn’t make the cut to do anything but be miserable, sad little men who hate life, lie about being addicts, and cry wolf loudest when they see someone they suspect to draw the attention away from themselves.

For all the people who know everything and all the people who know nothing. Yes there are druggies and there are people who honestly need medication what gives anyone the right to judge another person who they know absolutely nothing about. When someone comes in and wants thier med’s filled two weeks early yes that’s a problem but their is no reason for anyone to play God. Or judge another human being. All the people who use foul language to get the point across they need to grow up and be understanding to both sides of the coin. Of it wasn’t for all the abusers and users we wouldn’t have this problem in our society today. Just to update you that there are some people who really really need to get some pain relief so they can have a somewhat better life.